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ESPN’s extensive coverage of the 2013 college football campaign – from kick off on Thursday, Aug. 29 to the BCS National Championship on January 6 – will include 69 live weekday game telecasts across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ABC. The lineup will showcase many of the nation’s top programs in weekly Thursday and Friday night matchups and on select Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the season.
The schedule includes at least one team from all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences (American Athletic, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12, Southeastern and Sun Belt) plus independents BYU and Navy. Coverage of teams from Football Championship Division leagues Big Sky, Big South, Colonial Athletic, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Southern and Southwestern Athletic will also be featured.
The schedule involves 12 teams currently ranked in an early ESPN.com preseason top 25 poll highlighted by a showdown between No. 3 Oregon and No. 5 Stanford and multiple appearances by No. 4 Louisville. Additional ranked teams on the schedule include: No. 8 South Carolina, No. 12 Clemson, No. 13 Texas, No. 14 Florida State, No. 18 TCU, No. 19 UCLA, No. 21 Boise State, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 23 USC.
Overall, the 2013 college football season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN GamePlan will total more than 450 regular-and post-season games, concluding with the entire Bowl Championship Series on ESPN. A comprehensive schedule with Saturday games will be released at a later date.
Weekday game highlights:
ESPN Thursdays: The season will kick off with 10 games on Thursday, Aug. 29, highlighted by an ESPN College Football Primetime doubleheader involving SEC teams: No. 8 South Carolina hosting ACC member North Carolina at 6 p.m. ET followed by Ole Miss at Vanderbilt at 9:15 p.m. Additional highlights of the Thursday night series:
SEC: Two games in addition to the opening doubleheader, including Kentucky at Mississippi State (October 24) and Ole Miss at Mississippi State in the annual Thanksgiving night showcase November 28). ESPN previously televised the rivalry game – also known as the Battle for the Golden Egg and the Egg Bowl – as its annual Thanksgiving Day prime-time college football game from 1998 to 2003.
Pac-12: Two games, highlighted by No. 3 Oregon at No. 5 Stanford on November 7.
ACC: Four matchups, highlighted by two contests with No. 12 Clemson, who are coming off an 11-2 record in 2012.
Big 12: Two telecasts including No. 18 TCU at Texas Tech (September 12) and No. 13 Texas at Iowa State (October 3).
American Athletic Conference: Four games, including No. 4 Louisville twice.
Labor Day: ESPN’s Labor Day prime-time telecast on Monday, Sept. 2, will mark the ACC debut for Pittsburgh. The Panthers will host defending conference champion No. 14 Florida State, which finished last season with a 12-2 overall record.
Friday nights: ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to provide weekly Friday night telecasts showcasing top programs, including No. 4 Louisville of the American Athletic Conference twice. Additional highlights:
Mountain West: ESPN will televise a Mountain West matchup over four consecutive Fridays from September 13 to October 4, highlighted by at least one telecast of the three teams that claimed a share of the conference championship in 2012: Boise State, Fresno State and San Diego State.
Pac-12: ESPN2 will offer two Friday night Pac-12 games, both involving one ranked team: No. 23 USC (at Oregon State on November 1) and No. 19 UCLA (against Washington November 15).
BYU: ESPN and ESPNU will both televise BYU, highlighted by the Cougars hosting No. 21 Boise State (October 25 on ESPN)
MAC: ESPN2 and ESPNU will televise multiple games involving the participants in last year’s MAC championship game: Defending conference champion Northern Illinois three times and Kent State, with an 8-0 conference record last year, twice. ESPN2 will also carry the 16th annual Marathon MAC Football Championship at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m.
Sun Belt: Defending Sun Belt Conference champion Arkansas State will play in two midweek games, including a matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sun Belt’s second-place team in 2012 (Tuesday, Oct. 22).
Date
Time (ET)
Game
Network
Thu, Aug 29
6 p.m.
North Carolina at No. 8 South Carolina
ESPN
6 p.m.
Liberty at Kent State
ESPN3
6:30 p.m.
Presbyterian at Wake Forest
ESPN3
7 p.m.
Tulsa at Bowling Green
ESPNU
7 p.m.
Illinois State at Ball State
ESPN3
7 p.m.
Akron at UCF
ESPN3
7:30pm
Towson at Connecticut
ESPN3
7:30 p.m.
Southern Utah at South Alabama
ESPN3
9:15 p.m.
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt
ESPN
10:30 p.m.
Rutgers at Fresno State
ESPNU
Fri, Aug 30
7 p.m.
Samford at Georgia State
ESPN3
8 p.m.
Texas Tech at SMU
ESPN
8 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at Miami (Fla.)
ESPNU
8:30 p.m.
Southern at Houston
ESPN3
Mon, Sep 2
8 p.m.
No. 14 Florida State at Pittsburgh
ESPN
Fri, Sep 6
8 p.m.
Wake Forest at Boston College
ESPN2
Thu, Sept 12
7:30 p.m.
No. 18 TCU at Texas Tech
ESPN
7:30 p.m.
Troy at Arkansas State
ESPNU
Fri, Sep 13
8 p.m.
Air Force at No. 21 Boise State
ESPN
Thu, Sep 19
7:30 p.m.
No. 12 Clemson at NC State
ESPN
Fri, Sep 20
9 p.m.
No. 21 Boise State at Fresno State
ESPN
Thu, Sep 26
7:30 p.m.
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech
ESPN
Fri, Sep 27
9 p.m.
Utah State at San Jose State
ESPN
9 p.m.
Middle Tennessee at BYU
ESPNU
Thu, Oct 3
7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Texas at Iowa State
ESPN
7:30 p.m.
Western Kentucky at Louisiana-Monroe
ESPNU
Fri, Oct 4
9 p.m.
Nevada at San Diego State
ESPN
Thu, Oct 10
7:30 p.m.
Rutgers at No. 4 Louisville
ESPN
Fri, Oct 11
8:30 p.m.
Temple at Cincinnati
ESPN or ESPN2
Tue, Oct 15
8 p.m.
Louisiana-Lafayette at Western Kentucky
ESPN2
Thu, Oct 17
7:30 p.m.
Miami (Fla.) at North Carolina
ESPN
Fri, Oct 18
8 p.m.
UCF at No. 4 Louisville
ESPN
Tue, Oct 22
8 p.m.
Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State
ESPN2
Thu, Oct 24
7:30 p.m.
Kentucky at Mississippi State
ESPN
Fri, Oct 25
8 p.m.
No. 21 Boise State at BYU
ESPN
Wed, Oct 30
8 p.m.
Cincinnati at Memphis
ESPN2
Thu, Oct 31
7 p.m.
South Florida at Houston
ESPN
7:30 p.m.
Louisiana-Monroe at Troy
ESPNU
10:30 p.m.
Arizona State at Washington State
ESPN
Fri, Nov 1
9 p.m.
No. 23 USC at Oregon State
ESPN2
Tue, Nov 5
8 p.m.
Bowling Green at Miami (Ohio)
ESPN2 or ESPNU
8 p.m.
Ohio at Buffalo
ESPN2 or ESPNU
Wed, Nov 6
8 p.m.
Central Michigan at Ball State
ESPN2
Thu, Nov 7
7:30 p.m.
Troy at Louisiana-Lafayette
ESPNU
9 p.m.
No. 3 Oregon at No. 5 Stanford
ESPN
Fri, Nov 8
8:30 p.m.
No. 4 Louisville at Connecticut
ESPN2
9 p.m.
Air Force at New Mexico
ESPNU
Tue, Nov 12
7:30 p.m.
Ohio at Bowling Green
ESPNU or ESPN3
7:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Toledo
ESPNU or ESPN3
Wed, Nov 13
8 p.m.
Ball State at Northern Illinois
ESPN2 or ESPNU
8 p.m.
Miami (Ohio) at Kent State
ESPN2 or ESPNU
Thu, Nov 14
7:30 p.m.
Georgia Tech at No. 12 Clemson
ESPN
Fri, Nov 15
9 p.m.
Washington at No. 19 UCLA
ESPN2
Tue, Nov 19
8 p.m.
Kent State at Ohio
ESPN2 or ESPNU
8 p.m.
Buffalo at Miami (Ohio)
ESPN2 or ESPNU
Wed, Nov 20
8 p.m.
Northern Illinois at Toledo
ESPN2
Thu, Nov 21
7:30 p.m.
Rutgers at UCF
ESPN
9:30 p.m.
UNLV at Air Force
ESPNU
Fri, Nov 22
9:30 p.m.
Navy at San Jose State
ESPN2
Tue, Nov 26
7 p.m.
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois
ESPN2
Thu, Nov 28
7:30 p.m.
Ole Miss at Mississippi State
ESPN
Fri, Nov 29
Noon
Iowa at No. 22 Nebraska
ABC
TBD
Miami (Fla.) at Pittsburgh
ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
TBD
South Florida at UCF
ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
TBD
SMU at Houston
ABC, ESPN or ESPN2
TBD
Mid-American Conference TBD
ESPNU
TBD
Mid-American Conference TBD
ESPN3
Thu, Dec 5
7:30 p.m.
No. 4 Louisville at Cincinnati
ESPN
Fri, Dec 6
8 p.m.
Marathon MAC Championship (from Detroit)
ESPN2
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