In announcing the candidates for the televised game of the week, the league left a good deal of potential wiggle room for both ABC and ESPN to make their selection of games. Of the ten weeks where a Big East Network game of the week is to be televised, no fewer than five have multiple games still on the potential schedule.
West Virginia is a candidate for three of those weeks, with its Oct. 10 game at Syracuse, the Oct. 24 home date with Connecticut and the Nov. 7 home contest with Louisville all listed as possibilities. Any game picked as the Big East Game of the Week will start at noon.
WVU already has TV games locked with Liberty (Sept. 5, ESPN Regional), Auburn (Sept. 19, ESPN/2), Colorado (Oct. 1, ESPN), Marshall (Oct. 17, ESPN Regional), USF (Oct. 30, ESPN2), Cincinnati (Nov. 13, ESPN2) Pitt (Nov. 27, ESPN/ABC) and Rutgers (Dec. 5, ESPN/ABC).
Were WVU picked for the three games on the most recent list, it would leave East Carolina as the only game without a TV spot, but one that will likely be filled by some broadcast outlet.
The league's potential schedule:
Sat., Sept. 26 Fresno State at Cincinnati
Sat., Oct. 3 USF at Syracuse
Sat., Oct. 10 Connecticut at Pittsburgh or
West Virginia at Syracuse
Sat., Oct. 17 Louisville at Connecticut
Sat., Oct. 24 Louisville at Cincinnati or
Connecticut at West Virginia or
USF at Pittsburgh
Sat., Oct. 31 Cincinnati at Syracuse or
Rutgers at Connecticut
Sat., Nov. 7 Connecticut at Cincinnati or
Louisville at West Virginia or
Syracuse at Pittsburgh
Sat., Nov. 14 Syracuse at Louisville
Sat., Nov. 21 Louisville at USF or
Rutgers at Syracuse
Sat., Nov. 28 Syracuse at Connecticut
The Big East Network Game of the Week, produced by ESPN Regional Television, remains the largest regional college football network in the nation. The Big East Network Game of the Week is available to nearly 47 million homes across the United States (41 percent of the national television households).
The Big East Network Game of the Week has television affiliates available in at least 26 different states. In addition, nearly all games broadcast by ERT are offered as part of the ESPN GamePlan subscription service and are available on ESPN360.com. ESPN Regional Television is the largest syndicator of college sports programming in the United States.
Additional televised games for the 2009 season will be announced at the Big East Summer Kickoff in Newport, R.I., Aug. 4.