Football presented a great gift yesterday with the Mountain West television deal being released, and with details that every game will be in high definition (about time Mtn). Now it is time to take a closer look at the schedule to see what quirks exist as well as predictions that will be coming here shortly. In the mean time here is an early look at Utah and BYU's first take on the schedule from our other SB Nation sites.
First thing that was noticeable (besides the HD for The Mtn) is that none of Wyoming's games are on Versus, and they do not have a bye week. On the surface who cares, but ever since Versus and CBS College Sports were part of the television deal each team had at least one spot on the channel. The fact that Wyoming is coming off a bowl victory and is going to challenge that again is odd.
There is a week where a Versus game could be televised for Wyoming which is when they play at BYU on October 23rd. That day there is no other Versus game that day and with a noon start time that means no Pac-10 game would be on at that time, and a Big XII game most likely would not be a 1pm central time zone kick. Plus, the Border War between Colorado State and Wyoming always took place the day after Thanksgiving or the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but now is being played November 20th. The reasoning looks to be because November 20th is a huge bye week for the league as there are only three games that day, and the 27th also has three games.
Air Force also does not have a bye and to add insult to injury they play a Saturday game on November 13th and then a game the following Thursday night at UNLV to end the season. Colorado State is in the same boat as Wyoming and Air Force with no bye weeks during the season, plus they have zero games on Versus. One more gut check for Colorado State is that also have zero games on CBS College Sports, and their home game against Idaho most likely will not be on tv in addition to games at Nevada and at Miami (OH). The Rams will be on television nine times -- which is good -- but only on The Mtn. which unless you have DirecTv with the sports pack is a regional channel.
It looks like TCU has one of the better schedules to be seen as four of their games are on Versus, four on CBS College, two games on ESPN or ESPN2, one on The Mtn, and their game against Tennessee Tech is not being televised. I get showing the best teams on the most widely available channels but when three of the leagues teams are not shown on Versus which is the most widely available channel, and then Colorado State has the worst of the deal with no games on Versus or CBS College Sports.
The league wants to showcase their talent which is why TCU leads the way with the ten games on a truly national audience, then the drop off goes to Utah who has at least five games and possibly seven depending on where the San Jose State (home) or Iowa State (road) game are broadcast, and then BYU with four but that could be six which depends on Florida State (road) and the Nevada game (home).
My other gripe is that Versus should have one game a week as should CBS College and the rest on The Mtn. During a regular conference weekend that would have four games that equals out nicely. Also, why not hold off a little bit on some games later in the season to allow network swaps to ensure the best matchups are on the optimal channel.