The 2013 Mountain West football schedule is out, and the game times and the television schedule have not been fully released. So we will go ahead and note the games that have been released will be in bold, and then go off of what has a good chance of happening.
First off the Mountain West television deal has 16 games on ESPN, plus all of Boise State's home games and then CBS Sports is keeping rights to 22 other games. After ESPN takes the Boise State games, the two networks alternate games with CBS getting the first pick each week. These amount of games are up to said amount, so there could be less, but I am going to be optimistic and feel the entire 44 games will be picked up.
Also, one tidbit I found in the contract is that ESPN can trade one Boise State home game to CBS in exchange for one Boise State road conference game per year. If that is to happen this year I could see ESPN trying to trade the home game against Tennessee-Martin for the conference game on the road against Colorado State.
Forty-four games is not that many, so expect NBC Sports, ROOT SPORTS, Altitude and TimeWarner SportsNet to pick up most of the remaining games. Also, the Mountain West is setting up an online network to broadcast other events, so look for the FCS games to be viewed that way.
Bolded games are official, italicized are my projections. Some will be vague like ESPN family of networks or Fox family of networks. Regardless this is a fun exercise to see what games could be on TV.
Before we get to the entire schedule, lets look at what games CBS Sports would pick with their first eight selections. Following that will be the alternation between CBS Sports and ESPN.
WEEK 1
Thursday, August 29
Rutgers at Fresno State, ESPN family of networks
USC at Hawai`i, CBS Sports Network
Sacramento State at San Jose State
UNLV at Minnesota, Big Ten Network
Utah State at Utah, Pac-12 Network
Saturday, August 31
Colgate at Air Force
Boise State at Washington ESPN family of networks
Nevada at UCLA FOX family of networks
UTSA at New Mexico, CBS Sports Network
Eastern Illinois at San Diego State
Wyoming at Nebraska Big Ten Network
Sunday, September 1
Colorado State vs. Colorado, ESPN family of networks
WEEK 2
Saturday, September 7
Utah State at Air Force, CBS Sports Network
Tennessee-Martin at Boise State, ESPN family of networks and likely ESPNU or maybe even ESPN3
Colorado State at Tulsa, Fox Sports Net
Cal Poly at Fresno State
Hawai`i at Oregon State, Pac-12 Networks
UC Davis at Nevada
New Mexico at UTEP, Fox Sports Net
San Diego State at Ohio State, ESPN family of networks, possibly ABC
San Jose State at Stanford, ESPN or Fox family of networks
Arizona at UNLV, ESPN family of networks
Idaho at Wyoming
WEEK 3
Friday, September 13
Air Force at Boise State, ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday, September 14
Cal Poly at Colorado State
Fresno State at Colorado, Pac-12 Networks
Nevada at Florida State, ESPN family of networks
New Mexico at Pittsburgh
Central Michigan at UNLV, CBS Sports Network
Weber State at Utah State
Northern Colorado at Wyoming
WEEK 4
Friday, September 20
Boise State at Fresno State, CBS Sports Network
Saturday, September 21
Wyoming at Air Force, ESPN family of networks
Colorado State at Alabama, ESPN family of networks
Hawai`i at Nevada, CBS Sports Network
Oregon State at San Diego State, ESPN family of networks
San Jose State at Minnesota, Big Ten Network
Western Illinois at UNLV
Utah State at USC, ESPN or Fox family of networks
WEEK 5
Friday, September 27
Utah State at San Jose State, ESPN family of networks
Saturday, September 28
Air Force at Nevada, CBS Sports Network
Southern Miss at Boise State, ESPN family of networks
UTEP at Colorado State
Fresno State at Hawai`i, CBS Sports Network
UNLV at New Mexico
San Diego State at New Mexico State
Wyoming at Texas State, Longhorn Network
WEEK 6
Friday, October 4
Nevada at San Diego State, CBS Sports Network
BYU at Utah State, ESPN or ESPN2
Saturday, October 5
Air Force at Navy, 11:30 a.m. ET, CBS or CBS Sports Network
Fresno State at Idaho
San Jose State at Hawai`i, CBS Sports Network
New Mexico State at New Mexico
WEEK 7
Thursday, October 10
San Diego State at Air Force, ESPN family of networks
Saturday, October 12
Boise State at Utah State, CBS Sports Network
San Jose State at Colorado State, ESPN family of networks
Hawai`i at UNLV, CBS Sports Network
New Mexico at Wyoming
WEEK 8
Saturday, October 19
Nevada at Boise State, ESPN family of networks
Colorado State at Wyoming, ESPN family of networks
UNLV at Fresno State, CBS Sports Network
Utah State at New Mexico
WEEK 9
Friday, October 25
Boise State at BYU, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Saturday, October 26
Notre Dame at Air Force, CBS Sports Network (Maybe even CBS)
Colorado State at Hawai`i
Fresno State at San Diego State, ESPN family of networks
UNLV at Nevada, CBS Sports Network
Wyoming at San Jose State
WEEK 10
Saturday, November 2
Army at Air Force, CBS Sports Network
Boise State at Colorado State, CBS Sports Network
Nevada at Fresno State, ESPN family of networks
Hawai`i at Utah State, ESPN family of networks
New Mexico at San Diego State
San Jose State at UNLV
WEEK 11
Friday, November 8
Air Force at New Mexico, ESPN family of networks
Saturday, November 9
Nevada at Colorado State
Fresno State at Wyoming
Hawai`i at Navy, CBS Sports Network
San Diego State at San Jose State, CBS Sports Network
Utah State at UNLV
WEEK 12
Saturday, November 16
Wyoming at Boise State, ESPN family of networks
Colorado State at New Mexico
San Diego State at Hawai`i, ESPN family of networks
San Jose State at Nevada, CBS Sports Network
WEEK 13
Thursday, November 21
UNLV at Air Force, ESPN family of networks
Saturday, November 23
Boise State at San Diego State, CBS Sports Network
Colorado State at Utah State
New Mexico at Fresno State
Hawai`i at Wyoming
Navy at San Jose State, CBS Sports Network
WEEK 14
Friday, November 29
Fresno State at San Jose State, ESPN family of networks
Saturday, November 30
Air Force at Colorado State
New Mexico at Boise State, ESPN family of Networks
Army at Hawai`i
BYU at Nevada, CBS Sports Network
San Diego State at UNLV, CBS Sports Network
Wyoming at Utah State
There is my best guess of what the Mountain West television schedule will look like. There are still plenty of games to sell, and some decent games which include Air Force, San Jose State and Nevada that I feel would not get picked up under the 44 games between ESPN and CBS Sports Network.
So, let me know what you think, and provide some suggestions.