Author and Thinker
I noticed that the logo on at least the first couple of FSN college football broadcasts included a new logo… and regionalized games were shown as “FS Arizona” or “FS Big 12”.
Now it seems that the Oklahoma City Thunder will play on a renaming of FSN Southwest to… “FS Oklahoma“. Not FSN Oklahoma. Just plain FS Oklahoma.
I smell similar changes coming to other markets and maybe even the linewide update of FSN graphics I didn’t think was strictly implied, or necessarily possible.
If you had Week 4 in your “First Lineal Title Change” pool, collect your prize! If you had Week 4 in your “First Lineal Title Held By A Team That’s Not Unbeaten” pool, collect your prize! If you had both… you obviously saw the Oregon State upset of USC coming (or you saw Mississippi State beating LSU, or you had Alabama losing by now).
It’s funny… before Georgia beat Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl to unify it with the Auburn Title, the 2004 Utah Title was, in a way, the “mid-major” title. Now, if Utah beats the Beavers this week, the 2007 Boise State title, another title created by a mid-major BCS buster, could serve the same role – only going through Washington, Ohio State, Illinois, USC, and Oregon State first. As for Bama, although this means the Auburn-Utah and BCS titles are now both held in the same division, it’s a long road to unification – LSU must beat Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tulane (two of those teams are ranked), while Bama must face Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas State (one of those teams is ranked and another is in positive B Points). It would actually have been a shorter road if Georgia had won, as Georgia would have had to face only Tennessee and Vandy, but Vandy is still ranked. Bama really runs the risk of losing to Kentucky this week, and if that were to happen we’d need another loss or a Kentucky-LSU title game for unification before the bowls, but the game is at home and Bama can handle the pressure.
Lineal title updates and the new C Ratings, including stylesheet changes and most logos, are now up (or should be up by the time 45 minutes have passed from the timestamp on this post). No logos past R for now, and UConn will have to wait for the Us. Many of the changes are a result of the ratings being more volatile early in the season.
I think I figured out why I couldn’t load more than two files at a time in Freehostia’s new file manager: it only opens up a new line if you put something new in the first line, not any later lines. So if I change the file in the first line, I get a new line, but not if I put something in the line I would normally put it in. Which sucks.
All times PDT. All college football rankings reflect my C Ratings for teams in positive B Points.
Saturday
9-12 PM: College Football, Northwestern @ Iowa (ESPN Classic). Three teams in my top 25 and a team not in the top 25 but ranked ahead of either one of these two could conceivably go in this spot. But none of them are playing teams in positive B Points, and this might be a game to take that leap into the top 25, especially for Northwestern. Wait… Northwestern’s actually good?!?
12-2 PM: WNBA Basketball, Los Angeles @ San Antonio (NBA TV). Wait… a conference finals game on NBA TV? And it might be the deciding game?!?
Honorable Mention: 12:30-4 PM: MLB Baseball, regional action (FOX). All the hot playoff chase action! Too bad everything’s probably already determined.
4:45-8 PM: College Football, #1 Alabama @ defending 2004 Auburn-Utah title holder #6 Georgia (ESPN). Boy, how about my prediction on last week’s Watcher that Alabama would be “surprisingly strong”? Isn’t this two straight weeks CBS has screwed up the best SEC game? Not that Tennessee-Auburn is bad, per se…
Sunday
10:30-3 PM: PGA Tour Golf, THE TOUR Championship (NBC). The end of the playoff system that’s nothing like a playoff that no one cares about.
Honorable Mention: 11-3 PM: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing, Kansas race (ABC).
5:15-8:30 PM: NFL Football, Philadelphia @ Chicago (NBC). A mediocre team and a team that was mediocre last year. But at least you got the big time markets!
All rankings come from the new C Ratings, out now. I’m going to do some reorganization later that will mean that link will always link to the current ratings; this will also involve improving access to last year’s ratings, and making some CSS changes. The asterisk still indicates lineal title holders (also updated). All times Eastern.
| Top 25 Games | ||||
| #1 Alabama | @ | #6 *Georgia | 7:45 | ESPN |
| #2 *USC | @ | Oregon State | 9 PM TH | ESPN |
| Virginia Tech | @ | #3 Nebraska | 8 PM | ABC |
| Mississippi | @ | #4 Florida | 12:30 | R’com/Y’hoo |
| #5 Wisconsin | @ | Michigan | 3:30 | ABC/ESPN |
| Weber State | @ | #7 Utah | 8 PM | |
| Kent State | @ | #8 Ball State | Noon | ESPN+ |
| Illinois | @ | #10 Penn State | 8 PM | ABC |
| Navy | @ | #11 Wake Forest | 3:45 | ESPNU |
| #15 TCU | @ | #12 Oklahoma | 7 PM | FSN |
| Arkansas | @ | #13 Texas | 3:30 | ABC |
| Western Kentucky | @ | #14 Kentucky | 7 PM | Gameplan |
| Central Arkansas | @ | #20 Tulsa | 7 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| #21 Colorado | v. | Florida State | 3:30 | ABC/ESPN |
| #22 Minnesota | @ | Ohio State | Noon | BTN |
| Troy | @ | #23 Oklahoma State | 7 PM | |
| #24 Connecticut | @ | Louisville | 8 PM FR | ESPN2 |
| Mississippi State | @ | #25 *LSU | 7:30 | ESPN2 |
| Watchlist and Other Positive B Point Teams | ||||
| Tennessee | @ | Auburn | 3:30 | CBS |
| Michigan State | @ | Indiana | Noon | ESPN |
| Houston | @ | East Carolina | 3:30 | CBS CS |
| Northwestern | @ | Iowa | Noon | ESPN Classic |
| Colorado State | @ | California | 6 PM | |
| Rhode Island | @ | Boston College | 1 PM | ESPN360 |
| South Florida | @ | NC State | 7:30 | ESPNU |
| UAB | @ | South Carolina | 7 PM | Gameplan |
| North Carolina | @ | Miami (FL) | Noon | ESPN2 |
| Oregon | @ | Washington State | 6:15 | FCS |
| Fresno State | @ | UCLA | 3:30 | ABC |
| This Week’s Other HD Games | ||||
| Maryland | @ | Clemson | Noon | Raycom |
| Virginia | @ | Duke | Noon | ESPNU |
| Purdue | @ | Notre Dame | 3:30 | NBC |
| Big 12 | ||||
| Army | @ | Texas A&M | 12:30 | Versus |
| Big East | ||||
| Pittsburgh | @ | Syracuse | Noon | ESPN+ |
| Morgan State | @ | Rutgers | 3:30 | ESPN+ |
| Pac-10 | ||||
| Stanford | @ | Washington | 7 PT | FCS |
| MAC | ||||
| Northern Illinois | @ | Eastern Michigan | Noon | ESPN+ |
| Western Michigan | @ | Temple | 2 PM | CSD.TV |
| VMI | @ | Ohio | 2 PM | CSD.TV |
| Buffalo | @ | Central Michigan | 4 PM | CSD.TV |
| Conference USA | ||||
| Southern Methodist | @ | Tulane | 8 PM TH | CBS CS |
| Central Florida | @ | UTEP | 8 PM | CBS CS |
| WAC | ||||
| San Jose State | @ | Hawaii | 9 PT | Gameplan |
| Bowl Subdivision | ||||
| Arkansas State | @ | Memphis | 2 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Cincinnati | @ | Akron | 3:30 | Gameplan |
| Marshall | @ | West Virginia | 3:30 | ESPN+ |
| Louisiana-Lafayette | @ | Kansas State | 3:30 | |
| Bowling Green | @ | Wyoming | 4 PM | mtn. |
| North Texas | @ | Rice | 5 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Florida International | @ | Toledo | 7 PM | CSD.TV |
| New Mexico | @ | New Mexico State | 8 PM | Gameplan |
| Idaho | @ | San Diego State | 8 PM | |
| Nevada | @ | UNLV | 7 PT | mtn. |
All times PDT.
Saturday
9:30-12:45 PM: College football, Alabama @ Arkansas (Raycom Sports). Look for Alabama to be surprisingly strong when the new ratings come out on Monday.
12:45-4 PM: MLB Baseball, regional action (FOX). As usual, this is the only place baseball can fit.
4-6 PM: WNBA Basketball, New York @ Connecticut (NBATV). Now the playoffs are in full swing.
6-8 PM: WNBA Basketball, Sacramento @ San Antonio (NBATV). Man, the schedule really gets cramped this week and next with all the stuff I have to squeeze in.
Sunday
9-3 PM: Ryder Cup, final round (NBC). Is it just me, or does it seem like only sports journalists and groups that cover sports (ie ESPN) care about the Ryder Cup? And gee, it seems a lot bigger now that ESPN is covering the final round…
Honorable Mention: 10-3 PM: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing, Dover race (ABC). When I looked, both this race and the next one were identified as the “Camping World 400”, but with different “presented by” sponsors.
5-8:30 PM: NFL Football, Dallas @ Green Bay (NBC). Obligatory NFL game that has to be SNF.
Gonna try something different just for this week. Normally I put in the entire schedule, then I put in all the TV assignments, then I sort out the HD games. This week, for non-lineal title games, I’m going to start with putting in games from the TV schedule, and then adding in other games from the whole schedule. You shouldn’t notice the difference unless you’ve noticed that the schedule has pretty much followed the order on CBS Sports.com, and will seem a bit more random this time. All times Eastern, and college football rankings next week!
| Lineal Titles (all games on Saturday) | ||||
| Buffalo | @ | *Missouri | 7 PM | PPV |
| *LSU | @ | Auburn | 7:45 | ESPN |
| *Georgia | @ | Arizona State | 8 PM | ABC |
| This Week’s HD Games | ||||
| Kansas State | @ | Louisville | 8 PM WE | ESPN2 |
| West Virginia | @ | Colorado | 8:30 TH | ESPN |
| Baylor | @ | Connecticut | 8 PM FR | ESPN2 |
| East Carolina | @ | NC State | Noon | ESPN |
| Iowa | @ | Pittsburgh | Noon | ESPN2 |
| Florida Atlantic | @ | Minnesota | Noon | BTN |
| Troy | @ | Ohio State | Noon | BTN |
| Temple | @ | Penn State | Noon | BTN |
| Central Michigan | @ | Purdue | Noon | BTN |
| Mississippi State | @ | Georgia Tech | Noon | Raycom |
| Alabama | @ | Arkansas | 12:30 | R’com/Y’hoo |
| Central Florida | @ | Boston College | 1 PM | ESPNU |
| Arizona | @ | UCLA | 3 PM | FSN |
| Florida | @ | Tennessee | 3:30 | CBS |
| Rutgers | @ | Navy | 3:30 | CBS CS |
| Houston | @ | Colorado State | 3:30 | |
| South Florida | @ | Florida International | 5 PM | ESPNU |
| Wake Forest | @ | Florida State | 7 PM | ESPN2 |
| Rice | @ | Texas | 7 PM | FSN |
| Ball State | @ | Indiana | 7 PM | BTN |
| Fresno State | @ | Toledo | 8:15 | ESPNU |
| Other Games | ||||
| Ohio | @ | Northwestern | Noon | BTN |
| Akron | @ | Army | 1 PM | ESPN Classic |
| Eastern Michigan | @ | Maryland | 1 PM | ESPN360 |
| South Carolina State | @ | Clemson | 1 PM | ESPN360 |
| Wyoming | @ | BYU | 3 PM | mtn. |
| Indiana State | @ | Northern Illinois | 3 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Louisiana-Monroe | @ | Tulane | 3 PM | CST |
| Notre Dame | @ | Michigan State | 3:30 | ABC/ESPN |
| Miami (FL) | @ | Texas A&M | 3:30 | ABC |
| Virginia Tech | @ | North Carolina | 3:30 | ABC/ESPN |
| Marshall | @ | Southern Miss | 3:30 | CSS |
| Boise State | @ | Oregon | 3:30 | CSD.TV |
| Northeastern | @ | Syracuse | 3:30 | |
| Utah | @ | Air Force | 4 PM | VS. |
| Idaho | @ | Utah State | 4 PM | Altitude |
| Alabama State | @ | UAB | 4 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Sam Houston State | @ | Kansas | 7 PM | FCS |
| Portland State | @ | Washington State | 7 PM | FSN NW/FCS |
| SE Louisiana | @ | Louisiana Tech | 7 PM | ESPN+/CST |
| Wofford | @ | South Carolina | 7 PM | Gameplan |
| Middle Tenn. St. | @ | Arkansas State | 7 PM | CSD.TV |
| Kent State | @ | Louisiana-Lafayette | 7 PM | CSD.TV |
| New Mexico | @ | Tulsa | 7 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Tennessee Tech | @ | Western Michigan | 7 PM | CSD.TV |
| Murray State | @ | Western Kentucky | 7 PM | CSD.TV |
| Vanderbilt | @ | Mississippi | 7 PM | PPV? |
| Massachusetts | @ | Texas Tech | 7 PM | |
| Miami (OH) | @ | Cincinnati | 7:30 | ESPN360 |
| TCU | @ | SMU | 8 PM | CBS CS |
| Nicholls State | @ | Memphis | 8 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| Iowa State | @ | UNLV | 9 PM | mtn. |
| New Mexico State | @ | UTEP | 9 PM | CBSCS XXL |
| San Jose State | @ | Stanford | 9 PM | |
Posting the updated lineal titles now because I can. Looks like LSU will finally be defending against a half-decent team this week in Auburn. Georgia shouldn’t slouch either because for the second straight week a title defense is on ABC’s Saturday Night Football. USC has the week off and Missouri might as well, especially since they DO have a week off NEXT week. Three of the four title-holders’ next defenses are on national television.
I haven’t done a lick of work to set up the infrastructure for the college football rankings, which need to be up… next week. Yikes. AND I need to do, you know, actual productive things. AND I’m falling behind on my other plans for Da Blog as well. God I suck.
Hey, did you see that CBS has switched to a banner for SEC Football coverage? Too bad both ESPN and CBS’ highlight packages have embedding disabled.
It sort of feels like it was hastily assembled to me for a couple of reasons. For one, the space for the actual score is really small and forces double-digit scores to condense. Watch for the big “TOUCHDOWN” graphic to show up and tell me it doesn’t look like an amateur operation. It works for FSN and really low-budget operations; it doesn’t work for ESPN, NBC, or the Fox network. Goal to go situations result in the down and distance being REALLY condensed. Oh, and I saw it fade in and out and it basically just collapses into the circular SEC on CBS logo or “wipes” out of it, rather than the circular logo actually turning into the horizontal logo as in CBS’ college basketball banner.
Regardless, I will be completely shocked if this doesn’t show up for the NFL on CBS next season.
All times PDT.
Saturday
9-12 PM: College Football, California @ Maryland (ESPN). A bit of a minimalist Watcher this week, folks. And probably for most of October as well.
12:30-4 PM: MLB Baseball, regional action (FOX). To put at least SOME baseball on the Watcher.
5-8:30 PM: College Football, Ohio State @ defending 2007 Boise State title holder USC (ABC). Because all the endless hype can’t be for nothing, can it?
Sunday
11-3 PM: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing, Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire (ABC). Yes, it’s time for the annual pseudo-playoff structure no one cares about!
5:15-8:30 PM: NFL Football, Pittsburgh @ Cleveland (NBC). To put at least SOME football on the Watcher.
You can see some of ESPN’s new MNF package in action here:
And this video has a statistical graphic near the end, and a one-line statistic at about midway:
I think what may have been meant by “they’ll know it’s a better experience. But they won’t know why” was that even if people would notice the scoring bar was different, they’d only notice that most graphics were being kept out of sight if they were looking for it (perhaps because they noticed how the names of the announcers were displayed at the start of the broadcast). This would also seem to indicate an abandoning of the parallelogram in ESPN’s graphics package… were it not for the fact that some parallelograms were occasionally seen on some full-screen graphics. (Peripherally, ESPN also becomes the last NFL broadcaster to add an on-field down-and-distance indicator. ESPN also lagged in displaying the down and distance on their “dashboard”, apparently thinking the on-field graphic made it redundant, but I saw some complaints about having to wait too long to see the new down and distance.)
I would not be surprised if this never makes the leap outside Monday Night Football, at least on ESPN. ESPN seems to want to keep MNF special in some way, if the “orb” of previous years was any indication, and it would be difficult to fit college team names in there, at least if ESPN wanted to keep the team logos as well. ESPN’s wide team logos also seems best fit for the NFL; you would probably be looking at a very different look for baseball.
I can’t help but think the folks in the ESPN graphics department may be disappointed at this graphic’s revolutionary potential. Ironically, the centered score display, at least as refined by NFL Network, may be the next big evolution in score graphics, thanks to the intricities of widescreen vs. standard screen display.