SEC Announces UGA TV Situation for November. What Time for Clean Old Fashioned Hate?
ATHENS - The SEC has narrowed kickoff times for UGA’s games with Auburn and Texas A&M.
The SEC released much of the final schedule of the season on Thursday. The Bulldogs will play Auburn at either noon, 3:30 or 7:00. The final home game of the year will kick at either 3:30, 7:00 or 7:30.
Any game at 3:30 is on CBS. The likelihood that both the Auburn and Texas A&M games will both be on CBS is high.
The UGA-Auburn game has been broadcast on CBS 11 times since 2011. That weekend CBS has a double header at Noon and 3:30. The other games that weekend are LSU at Ole Miss, Alabama at Mississippi State, and Florida at Missouri.
Auburn-UGA has traditionally been one of the biggest draws in the SEC TV package, so a 3:30 kick seems more likely than any other spot. But another strong run from Alabama, and LSU’s spot atop the polls could complicate that network’s decision that weekend for the 3:30 spot.
A week later UGA-A&M will go up primarily against the Arkansas-LSU game. Tennessee at Missouri still hasn’t been selected, but it seems improbable CBS would that that duo over LSU and UGA. UT-Missouri seems destined for the SEC Network slot at 7:30.
The final game of the year for the Dawgs, at Tech, falls under the ACC TV selection protocol. That means Disney (ESPN and ABC) will put the game on where it likes. That leaves a slew of options for that company including an unlikely nighttime kick in Atlanta on ABC.
The final weekend of the year in odd years has become even more complex for predicting UGA-Tech because of the emergence of FOX’s college football package as well as the ACC Network. Because CBS is off the table, and FOX will broadcast Ohio State at Michigan at noon, the Tech game could go nearly anywhere on the slate - from noon to night.
The final weekend of the season also sees a slew of games taken off of the table because of Thursday and Friday games. The LSU-A&M or Alabama-Auburn game will likely be on CBS. The non-CBS game will fall to ESPN primetime. Clemson-South Carolina goes under the SEC package because it is in Columbia, so CBS could pick that game as well, but the Tigers simply don’t draw like LSU, Alabama or the other SEC powers, so that game could be at noon on ESPN or 3:30 on ESPN.
Florida State at Florida is in the same boat as Clemson-Carolina. If the Gators go into that game with only one loss that could be the late ABC game. Notre Dame at Stanford seems possible for late ABC as does Oklahoma at Oklahoma State.
With all of that said, it seems like Georgia will likely play Tech:
1. At noon on ABC or ESPN
2. At 3:30 on ABC or ESPN
3. At night on ESPN or ESPN2
Tech-UGA isn’t a great TV draw, so sticking it opposite Ohio-State Michigan might be what Disney decides to do. The real curious question is what Disney will do with its night ABC game because there doesn’t appear to be a clear choice for that spot.
