ESPN put VT at UNC on the six day option, so we won't know for sure when and where to watch the game until next Monday.
Based on that list, we're not going to be on the ACC Network, so that means we're getting one of the mothership channels (barring some weird scheduling deal and we do get a noon RSN game, which I think is highly unlikely.)
But I've looked at the other games that have been announced. (Last bit of text is a link).
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU all have the standard three game windows of noon, 3:30, and primetime.
Noon has three games listed: LSU at Florida on ESPN, TCU at Kansas on ESPNU, and Iowa at Minnesota on ABC or ESPN2. Well, ECU at USF is on ESPNews at noon, but I don't think we ever had to worry about that. Only slot left is the one remaining on whichever channel doesn't get Iowa/Minnesota.
3:30 has three games penciled in: Iowa State at Oklahoma State, BYU at Michigan State, and Indiana at Ohio State. That leaves one 3:30 slot open.
Primetime has three games listed: Michigan at Rutgers, Texas Tech at K-State, and one SEC game*. Again, one slot open.
*Alabama at Arkansas and Tennessee at Texas A&M are the options for the 3:30 CBS game. The other game will be on ESPN in primetime.
Basically, it looks like we could be in any of the three time slots. If at noon, it will be on ABC or ESPN2, possibly a reverse mirror. The other time slots could be on any of the four. The other ACC games that haven't been selected yet are FSU at Miami and Notre Dame at NC State.
Guessing time:
-Notre Dame at NC State has to be at the bottom of the pecking order, but of course, ND will provide a popularity boost regarding of how much they're stinking up the joint. I doubt that will get a primetime slot. If it gets the 3:30 slot, I'd bet on that getting ESPN 2 or U. But it could get the noon ESPN2 slot.
-I think FSU/Miami is going to get the last primetime slot.
-That leaves us for noon on ABC/ESPN 2 or 3:30 on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.

Comments
Crystal Ball says we will play them two Saturdays from now.
The wife and I have to attend a one-year old's birthday party at 3:30 on October 8 (UNC game day). This party is in a park and is set to last from 3:30-5:30. Considering all of this information, I'm almost willing to bet my life on the fact that this game will kick at 3:30.
You should have prevented this happening a year ago by advising that child's parents a year and nine months ago.
I will out un-luck you. I'm going to be at the PSU/UMd noon game. A 3:30 kick means I can go back to the tailgate and watch. Game will definitely be at noon and I will have to suffer through trying to listen online inside the stadium.
I'd root for a natural disaster but I'm going to be in the stadium
Oh you'll be in State College, hit me up at met177 penn state email, i'll buy you a drink...somewhere not downtown
My guess is we got the six day option to see who wins this weekend between UNC and FSU. If UNC pulls the upset, I expect out game with them to get a sexier time slot.
My question becomes, what is "sexier" in the eyes of the Mouse? A noon game on ABC or a 3:30 game on cable?
I'm sure ESPN sees a channel prestige and pecking order, but is there a timeslot prestige in their eyes?
It's been postulated on here before that our sexiness is what gets us 12-12:30...the Mouse knows we'll tune in no matter what.
DAMN US DEDICATED FANS!
/s duh...we awesome.
Primetime is sexy.
If FSU loses, that's two conference losses. They're effectively out of it. Especially if Louisville bests klempsun.
If UNC wins, they're undefeated in conference. Defending division champs looking for a repeat vs a resurgent Hokies squad.
Bravo!! Where else can you find that kind of analysis of game time selection. Well researched and well presented.
Only at TKP ladies and gents.
You should have seen when I was trying to narrow down last year's UVA game. I had a table and everything.
Even with their record, I'd be shocked if they put Notre Dame on the U
Yeah, that was a bit of an out there guess. I'm leaning more towards the noon option.
The annoying thing is that Iowa-Minnesota, all of the 3:30 games, Michigan-Rutgers, and K-State-Texans Tech are likely to be worse than the UNC-VT game.
BTW, I know a lot of Hokies fans who complain mightily about noon games. How would you like to be those poor schlubs at Kansas or Minnesota? 11:00am kickoff? No thanks!
I swear I've seen Pac-12 and WAC games kick off at noon before, or 9am their time. Always kills me when GameDay heads out west, and they sign onto the show at 6am local time. Yuck!
If it's like every other time I've been to Chapel Hill, it'll be a nooner.
Hoping for 3:30, wouldn't be shocked at yet another nooner
If UNC beats FSU, could be the Hokie/UNC game gets that semi-sexy 6:00/7:00pm start on ESPN2.
I know I'm likely the only one but I'm rooting for a nooner so that I can watch at least most of it before I go to my third wedding in four weeks.
#NoMoreFallWeddings
The worst part is that our bye weekend also happens to be the weekend that I don't have a wedding.
I got lucky, the one fall wedding I have to attend fell nicely during our bye week.
Having a BYE WEEK BABY!
congrats man
Going to a wedding Saturday after the Miami game. Thank you scheduling gods.
You need better friends.
I'm going to be in Denver that weekend, so I'm hoping for 3:30. As long as we don't have the prime time slot, since I'm staying with Michigan fans, I'll be ok. So that means we'll get the prime time slot.
Sloan's Lake Tap & Burger if you want to watch with fellow Hokies.
I might be down there that weekend as well.
3:30...those crazy shadows we saw in the Pitt game? Maybe noon is preferable.
Really hoping for a nooner this time. Surely they take requests?
They should make ND/NC St a nooner.
We get the Irish's 3:30 slot.
#DookEffect
Guessing 3:30 on ABC regional
I don't see ND being a nooner two weeks in a row. My guess is VT-UNC will not be 3:30. I don't have a clue (no one does probably) if it will an nooner or an evening game.
Am I reading this correctly that noon would be on ABC, 3:30 would be on ESPN?
noon/ABC may be the better slot for the TV execs.
Not quite. ABC and ESPN2 are both in play for the noon time slot.
All of the channels are still in play for the 3:30 timeslot. The Iowa State/Oklahoma State shows ABC/ESPN2/ESPNU as options, while the two Big Ten games list ABC/ESPN/ESPN2. So we know that ISU/OSU will not be on ESPN. I think the mothership is keeping that available in case one of the ACC games turns out to be a stinker that needs to be buried on ESPNU (most likely ND/NC State).
If we somehow get the primetime slot, I think it'll most likely be on ESPN2. Texas Tech/K-State has the ESPN2/ESPNU option, and I would lean more towards ESPNU. The Michigan game looks like it's ABC's game to lose. Of course, the SEC already has ESPN.
If FSU/Miami gets primetime, it could take the ABC slot (assuming both teams win next week) and bump Michigan to ESPN2. But, if one or both teams lose next week, it could easily get pushed to ESPN 2 or ESPNU, although I think even with slightly down teams, it's still a better draw than TTU/KSU.
There is no regional option. Any splits they do on ABC has the reverse mirror on ESPN or ESPN2 (meaning that the game gets nationwide coverage). They have yet to use any this year, and seem to be phasing them out based on the last few years.
Now, I'm not saying they won't do a reverse mirror, but I'm just pointing out that it will be accessible on TV everywhere.
And, it's this set of posts that led to ESPN doing the first reverse mirror of the season.
I had this startling geographic epiphany recently when I figured out that Chapel Hill is actually a quicker trip for me than driving to Blacksburg. So I think I will go ahead and attend this game if it is not at Noon. Don't really feel like staying down there, so heres hoping for a 3:30 so we can get some more road fun in this year.
Yeah, I realized that I'm closer to UNC, Duke, and ECU than VT. Plus the obvious being closer to Hoo-ville and ODU.
I don't know why I haven't been to any away games.
Got my tickets the day they went on sale from UNC. Now I just need to know whether I have to leave after work on Friday or if I can leave Saturday morning.
I got bored. I made a chart.
I tried to keep the games lined up across each channel. The bold games are locked in. "ACC TBD" of course refers to the three ACC games that have not been announced. I just used the shorthand to show what the available timeslots are.
Miami, UNC, and Notre Dame won. FSU lost, and who cares about NC State?
Our game becomes a battle for top of the Coastal. Especially if Miami plays earlier in the day and loses.
Nah, they'll use that game to show off U backness.
Bets on 3:30. We won't get the nooner with UNC beating FSU and we most likely won't get the night game.
My guess after UNC winning was us getting the night game. Miami's stadium is trash, I guess the Noles fans will travel and pack it but I think our game is more intriguing.
Miami vs FSU will be ranked vs ranked, which is a big selling point for ESPN. UNC will probably move into the top 25, but it' not likely that we do.
Plus Miami will probably be top 10 team - and the swagger is back
You really think FSU will still be ranked? 3-2, and out of running for the Atlantic division title.
They'll stay in. With TCU, Texas, Georgia, and Utah losing, there will be justification for FSU to stay in, around 22. Look for UNC to jump in around 17-18.
*cough cough* UNC at 17 and FSU at 23 *cough cough*
Toot toot
Way off on that FSU prediction. Don't you look silly.
/s
2 loss Ol Miss is ranked and FSU beat them by 2 scores on a neutral field, after trailing by 22. It's not out of the question that they'll be ranked.
Yeah, they'll be somewhere in the 20-25 range. They might not deserve it but they won't drop out.
So if Clemson loses badly tonight, do the talking heads start talking about how the Coastal as a whole is actually better than the Atlantic again?
Tech 1-0 against Atlantic
UNC 1-0 against Atlantic
Bad Tech 1-1 against Atlantic
Duke 0-1 against Atlantic
I had someone make the claim that the Atlantic was better than the Coastal.
My counter was that while the Atlantic might have the best teams in the ACC (FSU and Clemson, maybe Louisville), the rest of the division kind of sucked. Meanwhile, the Coastal has 5 teams with a legitimate shot at contending.
(This discussion was before this weekend.)
So I think there's a chance we back into a top 25 rank in our week off, making this matchup sweeter for a primetime slot. This is all assuming we jump all the teams that lost and that nobody besides UNC jumps us, so it's just assumption.
Here are the teams above us currently in the AP:
17 MStU - ?
18 Utah - L
19 SDSU - ?
20 Arky - W
21 TCU - L
22 Tex - L
23 Fla - W
24 Boise - ?
25 Georgia - L
26 AzSt - ?
27 Okla - W
28 NDSU - W
29 Cousins - W
30 VT
Utah, TCU, Texsa, Georgia lost. That bumps us to 26. UNC jumps us so 27. At this moment, USC is thumping Arizona St, Michigan State is up 7 on Indiana, and SDSU is up 3 on South Alabama. Boise just started with Utah State and probably won't lose but who knows. So if two of those four teams lose we could default into #25. Even if only one loses, it's possible we can jump an NDSU if only because Tennessee is looking like a better loss.
We can dream, anyway.
SDSU is trying its best to lose.
As is ASU.
I think Colorado (31) jumps us with a similar but slightly better resume. They have 3 impressive wins against some not so great teams (Colorado State, Idaho State, Oregon State), a loss to a top 5 team (Michigan), plus a win over Oregon.
I think you're right. I still think we could jump NDSU anyway, plus Indiana just tied it up with Michigan State so we might get three more losses in front of us!
NDSU is FCS. They're mainly in for the novelty, but now that we're a couple weeks past their defeat of Iowa, I think we'll start seeing them slide back to their #1 FCS spot and leave the big boy poll alone.
Let me take this one step further.
FSU is dropping from #12 with the loss to bring them to 3-2.
Ole Miss was at #16 with two losses (one of which is the now two loss FSU).
A lot of the teams in the bottom third of the rankings that lost today already had a loss -- MSU, TCU, Texas, and Georgia are all now sitting with two losses. Plus #19 San Diego State lost.
Not outside the realm of possibility that we get a small number to the left of our spot on the score box.
What the hell is up with punts hitting blockers this season?Wrong thread.
I think this games got a decent chance at being a top 25 mathup. Four teams ( Utah, UGa, Texas, and TCU) lost and were in the 18-25 range. The top " others receiving votes " teams were ASU, who is getting blown out by USC, Oklahoma, WVV then us. Add in UNC who was one below us in that category and that's the 4 teams replace the 4 that lost.
DRINK
See my post above. Yeah I totally agree. San Diego St is also losing and Indiana just tied it with 17 Michigan St.
and down goes Michigan State!
Edit: Wrong thread
David Teel tweeted and it said "VT and UNC 3:30 ABC or ESPN2 kickoff" Not sure if this means anything but thought I would share.
HokieSports.com has been updated: 3:30pm ABC/ESPN2.
And Twitter:
I think I might watch this football game.
Standby for weird stadium shadows in the 3rd quarter.
So, the full schedule of the TBD games.
Noon:
ABC - Notre Dame at NC State
ESPN2 - Iowa at Minnesota
3:30:
ABC/ESPN2 - VT at UNC, and I'm assuming BYU at Michigan State is the mirror
ESPN - Indiana at Ohio State
ESPNU - Iowa State at OK State
Primetime:
ABC - FSU at Miami
ESPN2 - Michigan at Rutgers
ESPNU - Texas Tech at K-State
Any link to a map showing which regions we're on which channel?
I'd count on the duce. ABC will have something espn would recognize. Sad but true. I'm often wrong so......I am outta here.
I don't even know what that means...
I'm assuming he's saying that neither VT nor UNC is a recognizable enough brand to merit being shown on ABC, so we'll be kicked to ESPN2 (reading "duce" as "deuce", ie "2"). I do not agree with his assertion, just providing my interpretation of it.
It's a mirror game so it will be on both channels. Just depends on where your TV set resides, certain markets will see it on ABC (VA, NC etc) EVERYWHERE else will see it on ESPN2.
Yeah....it's not an either/or deal.
At least he was right about being wrong.