Here’s a look at who’s televising and calling (where available) this week’s college football games, with some discussion of a featured game or games in each slot based on announcers, matchup, or both. All times are Eastern.
Thursday, Sept. 19 (all listings from 506 Sports)
Featured/only game: South Alabama @ Appalachian State
7:30 p.m.
ESPN
Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen
This Sun Belt clash has the 2-1 Mountaineers hosting the 1-2 Jaguars. App State suffered a season-opening 66-20 loss to then-No. 21 Clemson but bounced back last week with a narrow 21-19 road win in an in-state clash against East Carolina. Senior quarterback Joey Aguilar is in his second season as their starter after transferring from Diablo College in California, and he’s thrown for 964 yards and five touchdowns (albeit with two interceptions and a 58.1 percent completion mark) so far this season.
Meanwhile, South Alabama is intriguing, thanks to first-year head coach Major Applewhite. He was most recently their offensive coordinator but took over the top role in January after the Alabama Crimson Tide hired Kane Wommack away to be their defensive coordinator. Applewhite is known both for coaching (especially as Houston’s head coach from 2016-18) and playing (as a quarterback at Texas from 1998-2001), and it’s interesting to see him back in a head job. We’ll see what he and the Jaguars can do in a tough road contest against the Mountaineers, who are often one of the best Sun Belt teams.
Friday, Sept. 20
Stanford @ Syracuse
7:30 p.m.
ESPN
Anish Shroff, Andre Ware
Featured game: No. 24 Illinois @ 22 Nebraska
8:00 p.m.
Fox
Tim Brando, Devin Gardner
The second week of the Fox broadcast network running college football on Fridays (in place of WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown, now on USA) provides a notable ranked-on-ranked matchup, one of only four all week. Granted, last week also had a ranked-on-ranked (and Wildcats-on-Wildcats) clash between Arizona and Kansas State, and that wound up as a 31-7 blowout in favor of the hosts in Manhattan. But even that drew good broadcast returns for Fox relative to WWE.
As for this one, the Cornhuskers are 3-0 on the year and have scored 102 points while allowing just 20. But two of those blowout wins came against Northern Iowa (34-3 last week) and UTEP (40-7 in Week 1). Their only Power Four opponent to date was Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes, who they beat 28-10 at home but who are facing their own questions. The 3-0 Fighting Illini also haven’t been too tested to date, besting Eastern Illinois, Kansas, and Central Michigan, but they’ve scored 98 points while allowing 26.
We’ll see which of these Big Ten teams gets their first loss in this clash.
San Jose State @ Washington State
10:00 p.m.
CW
J.B. Long, Michael Bumpus
Saturday, Sept. 21, early window
N.C. State @ 21 Clemson
12:00 p.m.
ABC
Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy
Featured game: Marshall @ No. 3 Ohio State
12:00 p.m.
Fox
Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
The early window is not great from a look-ahead perspective this week, perhaps particularly exemplified by Fox Sports’ selection for their Big Noon Kickoff/Big Noon Saturday game. The 2-0 Buckeyes, coming off a bye, are a 40.5-point favorite there. And there isn’t much to suggest 1-1 Marshall (also after a bye, but coming off a 34-14 Sept. 7 loss to Virginia Tech) can keep up with them. However, at least Marshall head coach Charles Huff got off a good pregame press conference line:
Marshall HC Charles Huff is attempting to lure Ohio State players to the transfer portal with an all-you-can-eat biscuits NIL offer🤣
(h/t @OSUBrianGoBucks) https://t.co/8FmTe82eHK pic.twitter.com/WlMwtq95ON
— On3 (@On3sports) September 18, 2024
It is interesting to see Big Noon Kickoff go to what’s widely expected to be a non-competitive game. But this will give them much time to talk about a presumed national title contender in Ohio State.
This may be a further indication of school brands mattering more than results; keep in mind that Fox also has the rights to the No. 12 Utah versus No. 14 Oklahoma State game, which we’ll discuss shortly, but opted to air this one in their marquee slot instead.
Florida @ Mississippi State
12:00 p.m.
ESPN
Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek
Kansas @ West Virginia
12:00 p.m.
ESPN2
Brian Custer, Rod Gilmore
Houston @ Cincinnati
12:00 p.m.
FS1
Dan Hellie, Petros Papadakis
Tulane @ Louisiana
12:00 p.m.
ESPNU
Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia
Charlotte @ Indiana
12:00 p.m.
BTN
Guy Haberman, Yogi Roth
Villanova @ Maryland
12:00 p.m.
BTN
Mark Followill, Anthony Herron
James Madison @ North Carolina
12:00 p.m.
ACCN
Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin
Rice @ Army
12:00 p.m.
CBSSN
Dave Ryan, Adam Breneman
Ohio @ Kentucky
12:45 p.m.
SECN
Dave Neal, Aaron Murray
Ball State @ Central Michigan
1:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Arkansas State @ 20 Iowa State
2:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Richard Cross, Taylor McHargue
St. Francis (PA) @ Eastern Michigan
2:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Anthony Lima, Je’rod Cherry
Utah State @ Temple
2:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Shawn Kenney, Barrett Brooks
Virginia @ Coastal Carolina
2:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Saturday, Sept. 21 (afternoon-evening window)
Eastern Washington @ Nevada
3:00 p.m.
NSN (Reno), MWC Digital
Southern Mississippi @ Jacksonville State
3:00 p.m.
ESPN+
UCLA @ 16 LSU
3:30 p.m.
ABC
Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer
11 USC @ 18 Michigan
3:30 p.m.
CBS
Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
Miami (OH) @ 17 Notre Dame
3:30 p.m.
NBC
Dan Hicks, Jason Garrett
Arkansas @ Auburn
3:30 p.m.
ESPN
Mark Jones, Roddy Jones
Georgia Tech @ 19 Louisville
3:30 p.m.
ESPN2
Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison
Arizona State @ Texas Tech
3:30 p.m.
FS1
Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
Kent State @ 10 Penn State
3:30 p.m.
BTN
Jeff Levering, Jake Butt
Rutgers @ Virginia Tech
3:30 p.m.
ACCN
Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich
Memphis @ Navy
3:30 p.m.
CBSSN
Carter Blackburn, Randy Cross
Youngstown State @ Pittsburgh
3:30 p.m.
ESPN+, ACCNX
Doug Sherman, Forrest Conoly
Buffalo @ 23 Northern Illinois
3:30 p.m.
ESPN+
Jason Ross Jr., Matt Millen
Central Connecticut State @ Massachusetts
3:30 p.m.
ESPN+
Houston Baptist @ UTSA
3:30 p.m.
ESPN+
Ted Emrich, Charlie Strong
Featured game: No. 12 Utah @ No. 14 Oklahoma State
4:00 pm.
Fox
Jason Benetti, Brock Huard
This ranked-on-ranked clash could have Big 12 title implications. The Utes are 3-0 in their first season in the conference, but so are the conference-veteran Cowboys. However, veteran quarterback Cam Rising (who’s in his seventh season of college football overall and his sixth with the Utes) is expected to return after missing the last game-and-a-half with a finger injury. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State also has its own QB in his seventh season of college football, Alan Bowman. That veteran QB battle should add to the interest in this one.
Duke @ Middle Tennessee
4:00 p.m.
ESPNU
Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox
Vanderbilt @ 7 Missouri
4:15 p.m.
SECN
Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
TCU @ Southern Methodist
5:00 p.m.
CW
Thom Brennaman, Max Browne
UTEP @ Colorado State
5:00 p.m.
TruTV
J.B. Long, Mike Golic Jr.
East Carolina @ Liberty
6:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Monmouth @ Florida International
6:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Saturday, Sept. 21 (evening/late-night window)
No. 8 Miami (FL) @ South Florida
7:00 p.m.
ESPN
Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick
California @ Florida State
7:00 p.m.
ESPN2
Roy Philpott, Sam Acho
Northwestern @ Washington
7:00 p.m.
FS1
Alex Faust, Robert Smith
Florida Atlantic @ Connecticut
7:00 p.m.
CBSSN
Jordan Kent, Logan Ryan
Florida A&M @ Troy
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
New Mexico State @ Sam Houston
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Toledo @ Western Kentucky
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Tulsa @ Louisiana Tech
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
Wyoming @ North Texas
7:00 p.m.
ESPN+
James Westling, Leger Douzable
Featured game 1: No. 6 Tennessee @ No. 15 Oklahoma
7:30 p.m.
ABC
Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
So far, this might be the best game in the ABC Saturday night slot.
The Sooners and Volunteers both enter this 3-0, and this will be Oklahoma’s first real test as a member of the SEC (their wins to date are against Temple, Houston, and Tulane, with the Houston game in particular a close 16-12 one). Meanwhile, Tennessee has beaten Chattanooga, NC State, and Kent State, so at least they faced a Power Four opponent (and a ranked one at the time) in NC State and did so in a neutral-site game.
But this will be their biggest test to date, too, and we’ll see who comes out on top.
Iowa @ Minnesota
7:30 p.m.
NBC
Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge
Akron @ South Carolina
7:30 p.m.
ESPNU
Clay Matvick, Steve Addazio
Bowling Green @ 25 Texas A&M
7:30 p.m.
ESPN+, SECN+
Jay Alter, Rocky Boiman
Georgia Southern @ 5 Ole Miss
7:45 p.m.
SECN
Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers
Featured game 2: Baylor @ Colorado
8:00 p.m.
Fox
Connor Onion, Mark Helfrich
At the start of last year, Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes were an incredible draw for viewership, especially around their 3-0 start. But their 2-1 start this year, with wins over North Dakota State and Colorado State and a loss to Nebraska, has been much less impressive. There are still plenty of headlines and hype around that program, though, and it will be interesting to see how the Bears (themselves 2-1 after wins over Tarleton State and Air Force and a loss to Utah) handle that.
Michigan State @ Boston College
8:00 p.m.
ACCN
Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill
ULM @ 1 Texas
8:00 p.m.
ESPN+, SECN+
Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker
Purdue @ Oregon State
8:30 p.m.
CW
Ted Robinson, Ryan Leaf
Fresno State @ New Mexico
8:30 p.m.
TruTV
Ari Wolfe, Darius Walker
Portland State @ Boise State
9:45 p.m.
FS1
Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
No. 13 Kansas State @ BYU
10:30 p.m.
ESPN
Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler
Northern Iowa @ Hawaii
11:59 p.m.
Hawaii PPV, Team1Sports
