We interrupt CFB Week 11 with an inappropriate update on CFB Week 12:
Blame the ESPN execs, the Fox hounds, Larry Scott or the Sooner Schooner — all equally, if possible — for not allowing you the common courtesy of revealing a kickoff time for the annual USC-UCLA game at the Coliseum that gives you the information needed to plan your day accordingly.
We aren’t that flexible, or accommodating, as we used to be.
The only thing we know for sure is the contest will happen on Nov. 18, with about a seven-hour variance of kickoff times. ESPN and Fox need to see how everything else falls apart in Week 11, so there’s only so much that can be determined before Week 12.
ESPN/ABC has the first pick, and is supposed to do so by Monday.
The pecking order goes:
= 12:30 p.m. on ABC/ESPN or 5 p.m. on ABC,
= 5 p.m.on Fox KTTV Channel 11 or 1 p.m. on FS1,
= 7:30 p.m. or 7:45 p.m. on ESPN,
And if all else fails (meaning both USC and UCLA lose terribly this weekend, and both QBs go down with season-ending injuries):
= 4 p.m. on Pac-12 Network
And we haven’t even factored in the Fox Business Network, which apparently now comes into play in an awful pinch.
The other Pac-12 games that day for ESPN/Fox consideration: Arizona-Oregon, Utah-Washington and Cal-Stanford (with Arizona State-Oregon State already relegated to the Pac-12 Net at noon).
The other games of national importance are puzzle pieces such as: Oklahoma-Kansas, Illinois-Ohio State, Nebraska-Penn State, TCU-Texas Tech, Michigan-Wisconsin, Kansas State-Oklahoma State, Iowa State-Baylor, Mississippi State-Arkansas, Iowa-Purdue, Maryland-Michigan State, LSU-Tennessee, Texas A&M-Mississippi and a few others involving unranked teams with national branding.
Notre Dame is home in Week 12 and locked into NBC. CBS’ SEC options likely focus on Georgia (hosting Kentucky), Mississippi State (hosting Arkansas) or LSU (at Tennessee).
We’ve done this limbo dance before and we aren’t any happier with the delay that’s to no one else’s benefit but the TV deciders.
This, in fact, it happened to USC on its Nov. 4 Homecoming game against Arizona last Saturday, with the notice of the 7:45 p.m. kickoff not coming until Sunday morning, Oct. 29. The game didn’t end until about 11:30 p.m. Perfect for alums.
Our preferred kickoff for USC-UCLA would be a standard noon-time boot. Every year, Ohio State and Michigan seem to get that time locked in, no questions asked. It cuts down on the day-long drinking and allows for post-game celebration/decompression.
Still, we’re not going to take a calculated guess as to what will happen here. But there are no other marquee, must-see games Saturday begging to be put into the ABC prime-time slot. It wouldn’t be such a horrible idea for ESPN “College GameDay” to finally acknoweldge SoCal for one time this season — set up either outside the Coliseum, on the USC campus again, or venture over to the new theme park/Al Cowling Residence Hall next to the Shrine Auditorium.
What’s fair? Not stringing fans along.
What’s the reality? Fans get strung along, whimpering every so slightly, but trying to show they understand the process.
The more right-fee holders grabbing games out of a bag, the more complicated this remains.
We’re open for suggestions.
Now, to get this Week 11 past us with updated College Football Playoff committee rankings:
THE LOCALS
* No. 11 USC (8-2, 6-1) at Colorado (5-5, 2-5), Saturday at 1 p.m., Channel 11 (Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman, Holly Sonders)
* UCLA (4-5, 2-4) vs. Arizona State (5-4, 4-2) at the Rose Bowl, 6:30 p.m., Pac-12 Net (Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth, Jill Savage)
IN THE PAC 12
* Washington (8-1, 5-1) at Stanford (6-3, 5-2), Friday at 7:30 p.m., FS1 (Justin Kutcher, Mark Helfrich and Petros Papadakis)
* No. 9 Washington State (8-2, 5-2) at Utah (5-4, 2-4), Saturday at 2:30 p.m., Pac-12 Net (JB Long, Anthony Herron, Lewis Johnson)
* Oregon State (1-8, 0-6) at Arizona (6-3, 4-2), Saturday at 7 p.m., ESPN2 (Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich)
Bye: Cal (5-5, 2-5) and Oregon (5-5, 2-5)
BEST OF THE REST
(ESPN College GameDay will be in Miami prior to the Notre Dame-Miami game Saturday. There are also more replays this week of the ESPN documentary “Catholics vs. Convicts” from 2016, including Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday at 1 p.m. on ESPNU and Saturday at 3 a.m. on ESPN2)
Thursday
* North Carolina at Pittsburgh, 4:30 p.m., ESPN (Dave Flemming, Joey Galloway, Booger McFarland, Laura Rutledge)
Friday
* Temple at Cincinnati, 4 p.m., ESPN2 (Dave Lamont, Mack Brown, Jen Lada)
* BYU at UNLV, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 (Adam Amin, Dusty Dvoracek, Molly McGrath)
Saturday
Morning window
* No. 12 Michigan State at No. 13 Ohio State, 9 a.m., Channel 11 (Joe Davis, Brady Quinn)
* No. 15 Oklahoma State at No. 21 Iowa State, 9 a.m., Channel 7 (Mike Patrick, Tom Tuberville, Paul Carcaterra)
* Arkansas at No. 24 LSU, 9 a.m., ESPN (Jason Benetti, Kelly Stouffer, Julie Stewart-Binks)
* No. 23 North Carolina State at Boston College, 9 a.m., ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen, Brock Huard, Allison Williams)
* Rutgers at No. 14 Penn State, 9 a.m., Big Ten Net (Kevin Kugler, Matt Millen)
* Duke at Army, 9 a.m., CBSSN (Ben Holden, Jay Feely)
* Florida at South Carolina, 9 a.m., Channel 2 (Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor)
* Nebraska at Minnesota, 9 a.m., FS1 (Brian Custer, Ben Leber)
* Baylor vs. Texas Tech in Dallas, 9 a.m., Fox Sports Net (Mark Followill, Brian Baldinger)
* No. 17 Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, 9:20 a.m., ACC Network (Tom Werme, Dave Archer)
Midday window
* No. 1 Georgia at No. 10 Auburn, 12:30 p.m., Channel 2 (Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge)
* No. 20 Iowa at No. 8 Wisconsin, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7 (Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe)
* Florida State at No. 4 Clemson, 12:30 p.m., ESPN (Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay)
* Virginia at Louisville, 12:30 p.m., ESPNU (Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia)
* West Virginia at Kansas State, 12:30 p.m., ESPN2 (Anish Shroff, MIke Golic Jr., Roddy Jones)
* Michigan at Maryland, 12:30 p.m., Big Ten Net (Brandon Gaudin, Glen Mason)
* SMU at Navy, 12:30 p.m., CBSSN (John Sadak, Randy Cross)
* Kansas at Texas, 3 p.m., Longhorn Network (Lowell Galindo, Ahmad Brooke, Kris Budden)
Late afternoon window
* No. 2 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State, 4 p.m., ESPN (Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill)
* Purdue at No. 25 Northwestern, 4 p.m., ESPN2 (Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht, Rocky Boiman)
* New Mexico at Texas A&M, 4 p.m., ESPNU (Clay Matvick, Kirk Morrison)
* Tennessee at Missouri, 4:30 p.m., SEC Network (Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic)
* No. 3 Notre Dame at No. 7 Miami, 5 p.m., Channel 7 (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Maria Taylor)
* No. 6 Texas Christian at No. 5 Oklahoma, 5 p.m., Channel 11 (Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt)
Late night window
* Wyoming at Air Force, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU (Roy Philpott, Tom Ramsey)
* Boise State at Colorado State, 7:30 p.m., CBSSN (Rich Waltz, David Diehl)
