Conference USA Updates FB TV Schedule 2008

Conference USA has announced its television schedule for the 2008 football season. The current confirmed schedule features nearly 50 games to air nationally or regionally. National games will be-televised on CBS College Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN 2, the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network. Marshall's Thundering Herd has eight of 12 games scheduled to appear on an ESPN, plus BTN, CBS-CSN and CSS.

Included in this year's Conference USA television schedule are a number of unopposed windows that provide tremendous exposure to the league nationally, as well as several exciting league match-ups and many challenging non-conference contests. For Marshall and other schools, in addition to the national TV platforms, will have at least seven other games will be regionally-televised throughout the southeast on other stations. For example, the Herd's game at nationally-ranked West Virginia will be on ESPN Regional this year and be available at a number of stations in the Mountain State. Of course, all 12 Marshall games can be heard in Huntington on ESPN 930-AM and The Dawg, 93.7 FM and other stations from the Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network.

MU's rising sophomore running back Darius Marshall looked for running room against West Virginia in last year's game in Huntington. This year's game is in Morgantown and will be on ESPN Regional. photo by Greg Perry/Herd Insider magazine

This season marks the fourth year of C-USA’s partnership with the all-new CBS College Sports Network, which was branded as "CSTV" back in 2005 through this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament in March of '08. Conference USA signed a six-year initial term with what is now CBS-CSN that includes significant national and regional exposure for football, men's and women's basketball and other C-USA sports. CBS College Sports Network is available on cable systems across the country, as well as via satellite on DIRECTV Channel 613 (as part of the Premier Package and Sports Pack) and Dish Network Channel 152 (America's Top 200 Package).

Conference USA will also be featured on ESPN and its family of networks with at least 10 regular season contests televised this fall as part of its contract with the network. Additional non-conference games may be selected by the network through agreements with other conferences.

The fourth annual Conference USA Football Championship Game will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2 on Saturday, December 6. ESPN is also the home for the R&L Carriers Bowl in New Orleans; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth; the Auto Zone Liberty Bowl in Memphis; and the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. ESPN2 has the new St. Petersburg (Fla.) Bowl, which pits the Big East against C-USA. The NFL Network will present the Texas Bowl in Houston.

“We are very pleased to have so many of our football games on television and distributed to fans throughout the country,“ said Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky. “We are looking forward to a great conference race this fall and we’re glad that people around the country will be able to watch so many of our games.”

CBS College Sports Network will broadcast nationally at least 20 C-USA football games during the 2008 season, including 15 conference match-ups. Live game coverage kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 6, as the Rice Owls visit the Memphis Tigers in an early C-USA match-up. CBS College Sports Network’s schedule also includes 12-day selections during the final four Saturdays of the season, which involves picking games on the Monday 12-days before they air on the Saturday of the following week.

The ESPN family of networks kicks off its schedule on opening weekend, Friday, August 29, when new Mustangs' head coach June Jones makes his SMU debut in a battle with longtime rival Rice, two teams from the old Southwest Conference. The next day, Saturday, August 30, East Carolina squares off against Virginia Tech in Charlotte, N.C., on ESPN. On Saturday, September 6, C-USA will have three of its home games air on the ESPN family of networks as West Virginia visits East Carolina, South Florida plays at UCF and Texas faces UTEP in El Paso. The ESPN schedule also features six unopposed windows, with three Friday night contests, two Sunday night games and one Tuesday night tilt. Four of those games feature a pair of Conference USA teams in head-to-head matchups.

Tight End Cody Slate was all alone in the end zone for this touchdown against Memphis last year in the Liberty Bowl in an ESPN mid-week game. This year's game is at the Joan C. Edwards Stadium on a Saturday night, seen on CBS College Sports Network (Comcast Channel 174 in Huntington). photo by Greg Perry/Herd Insider magazine

As part of the league’s agreement with CBS College Sports Network, seven games have been sub-licensed for regional broadcast. Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS, found on Comcast Cable in Huntington on basic cable's channel 68) will begin its regional package throughout the southeastern U.S. on September 13 when Memphis visits the Marshall Thundering Herd at the Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Tigers head coach Tommy West is 3-1 all-time as a head coach against the Herd, going 1-0 at Chattanooga, when both schools were in the Southern Conference, and 2-1 since MU joined UM in C-USA. Marshall did win the only meeting in Huntington in 2006, 41-27, but fell at Memphis last season by 24-21.

Additional Conference USA football television exposures remain a possibility, and will be released as soon as they are finalized.

2008 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE (confirmed games as of July 17) {possible Marshall game vs. opponent for that date}

CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK NATIONAL
Saturday, September 6 Rice at Memphis
8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT Saturday, September 13 Air Force at Houston 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 20 TCU at SMU 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Thursday, September 25 SMU at Tulane 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 27 Houston at East Carolina 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 27 UCF at UTEP 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Thursday, October 2 Memphis at UAB 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 4 SMU at UCF 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 4 Rice at Tulsa 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Thursday, October 9 UAB at Houston 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 11 Boise State at Southern Miss 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 18 UTEP at Tulsa 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 25 SMU at Navy 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 25 Southern Miss at Memphis 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, November 8 Marshall at East Carolina 3:30 p.m. EST/2:30 p.m. CST

C.J. Spillman sent East Carolina QB Patrick Pinkney into the air on this play in the second half of Marshall's 26-7 win over the Pirates. This year's game is on the new CBS College Sports Network. photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

Saturday, November 8 TBA (12-day advance) 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST
Saturday, November 15 TBA (12-day advance) 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST
Saturday, November 22 TBA (12 day advance) 3:30 p.m. EST/2:30 p.m. CST {Marshall at Rice}
Friday, November 28 UTEP at East Carolina 1:00 p.m. EST/Noon CST
Saturday, November 29 TBA (12 day advance) 3:30 p.m. EST/2:30 p.m. CST {Tulsa at Marshall}

COMCAST SPORTS SOUTHEAST (CSS) REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 13 Memphis at Marshall 7:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 20 Marshall at Southern Miss 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT
Saturday, October 18 Memphis at East Carolina 12:00 p.m. EDT/11:00 a.m. CDT
Saturday, November 1 UAB at Southern Miss 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, November 15 UCF at Marshall (Homecoming) 4:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. CST
Saturday, November 22 TBA (12-day advance) 7:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. CST
Saturday, November 29 TBA (12-day advance) 3:30 p.m. EST/2:30 p.m. CST

ESPN SCHEDULE
Friday, August 29 SMU at Rice 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, August 30 Virginia Tech at East Carolina Noon EST/11:00 a.m. CST
Saturday, September 6 West Virginia at East Carolina 4:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. CDT
Friday, October 3 Cincinnati at Marshall 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Friday, October 10 Louisville at Memphis 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Sunday, October 26 UCF at Tulsa 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Sunday, November 2 East Carolina at UCF 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST
Sunday, December 21 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST
Wednesday, December 31 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Noon EST/11:00 a.m. CST
Friday, January 2 AutoZone Liberty Bowl 5:00 p.m. EST/4:00 p.m. CST
Tuesday, January 6 GMAC Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST

ESPN 2 SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 6 South Florida at UCF 7:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 6 Texas at UTEP 10:15 p.m. EDT/9:15 p.m. CDT
Tuesday, October 28 Houston at Marshall 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
Saturday, December 20 St. Petersburg Bowl 4:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. CST

ESPN OR ESPN 2 SCHEDULE
Saturday, December 6 C-USA Championship Game TBA

ESPN REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 13 Marshall at West Virginia 3:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. CDT

BIG TEN NETWORK SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 6 Marshall at Wisconsin Noon EDT/11:00 a.m. CDT

NFL NETWORK SCHEDULE
Tuesday, December 30 Texas Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CST

RAYCOM REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 6 Southern Miss at Auburn 12:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. CDT
Saturday, September 13 UAB at Tennessee 12:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. CDT