Daily Bull 10.11.16: Let’s talk television

The big announcement for us yesterday was that our game against Alabama will once again be in the 2:30 CBS slot. Folks, that’s the third time in seven games that they’ve selected the Aggies. That’s as many as Bama. This ship is clipping along nicely, and people want to watch this team play football. There’s an excitement and a new energy. It’s not just gaudy offense that sometimes sputters (although it has been that as well), but it’s playmaking defense and tough resilience. It’s a fun team, and it’s a very good team.

Texas A&M-Tennessee was the most-watched game of the weekend.

Now I want y’all to think back five years. Our last year in the Big 12. Do you remember what the TV situation was like? Let’s roll through that 2011 schedule here:

• game 1: SMU. FSN at 6:30 p.m. The Mustangs were experiencing the sporadic success of the June Jones renaissance, but still. Quite surprising this one was a televised prime time game. Our preseason top-ten ranking was a big boost here.
• game 2: Idaho. PPV. Yep. We actually charged people to watch Mike Sherman beat a 2-10 WAC team 37-7.
• game 3: Oklahoma State. ABC at 2:30. This was a top-ten matchup in the prime non-CBS slot. It was a thrilling game, but a very disappointing one.
• game 4: Arkansas. ESPN at 11:00. This was the first of five 11 a.m. games we’d play that year. Another disappointing loss to a ranked team.
• game 5: at Texas Tech. 6:00 p.m. on FX. Remember when FX used to do Big 12 games?
• game 6: Baylor. 11:00 a.m. on FX. Seriously, the Archer promos were a nice treat during football games.
• game 7: at Iowa State. 2:30 p.m. on ABC. Good grief, there must have been virtually nothing else on that day.
• game 8: Missouri. 11:00 a.m. on FX. Three times in four weeks that we played a game before noon.
• game 9: at Oklahoma. 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2. One of the standard daytime regional ABC/ESPN slots. OU was #7 at the time.
• game 10: at Kansas State. 2:30 p.m. on ABC. K-State was #17 at the time. This sucker went to 4OT. Spoiler: we blew it.
• game 11: Kansas. 11:00 a.m. on FSN. Standard slot for a couple of unranked, average Big 12 teams.
• game 12: Texas. 7:00 p.m. on ESPN. Nothing to see here.
• BOWL: Northwestern. 11:00 a.m. on ESPN (New Year’s Eve). PRO: you get to say you played on NYE. CON: no one’s actually awake yet to watch.

The 2:30 SEC slot is the prime real estate of the college football TV landscape. If we keep on playing all-out, high-octane football, they might even pick us up some more. Enjoy these shows and appreciate what we’ve got. It wasn’t long ago that all this seemed like a distant mirage. Enjoy being at the center of the collective consciousness of college football instead of at the fringes. It’s pretty fun.