C-USA Announces Preliminary Football Television Schedule

Anthony Floyd

Conference USA has announced its preliminary television schedule for the 2002 football season. The schedule features a minimum of 20 games to be televised on at least five different networks. Included are a number of unopposed windows that provide tremendous exposure to the conference, as well as many exciting league matchups as well as challenging non-conference contests.

Conference USA and ESPN Inc. will begin the second season of an exclusive eight-year agreement to televise Conference USA football this fall. The contract incorporates ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Regional, ABC Sports, ESPN.com and ESPN Classic. The contract includes exclusive national cable television coverage on ESPN and ESPN 2, including special Tuesday and Wednesday night games as well as Thursday and Saturday contests.

The schedule kicks off with a pair of games on Labor Day weekend. Preseason conference favorite and nationally-ranked Louisville welcomes in-state rival Kentucky in a special Sunday evening contest that kicks off on ESPN 2 at 6:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, September 1. The next day, TCU travels to Cincinnati in the first league game of the season, a game that will air on ESPN. Kickoff at Nippert Stadium is 4:30 p.m EDT on Monday, September 2.

Also highlighting the schedule are Tuesday and Wednesday night football games on ESPN 2, both featuring conference matchups. Two-time defending C-USA champion Louisville will visit Memphis on Tuesday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m. CDT. Later in the month, on October 30, Southern Miss visits TCU for a Wednesday night tilt that kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CST in Fort Worth.

Included in the schedule of games on ESPN and ESPN 2 are several intrguing matchups against non-conference foes such as defending Big Ten champion Illinois (at Southern Miss on September 7), Ohio State (vs. Cincinnati on September 21), Alabama (vs. Southern Miss on September 21) and Florida State (at Louisville on Thursday, September 26).

The 2002 season will mark the debut of a syndicated Conference USA football package on ESPN Plus. Three games have been finalized for this season: Texas at Tulane on September 28 as well as a pair of November 9th games, Air Force at Army and Southern Miss at UAB. Two additional games are expected to be added to the package at a later date.

In addition to the games slated for ESPN Inc., CBS will air the annual Army-Navy battle as part of its network package on Saturday, December 7 in East Rutherford, N.J. Jefferson-Pilot will air the September 7 inter-sectional battle between Memphis and Mississippi in Oxford, Miss.

Additional Conference USA football television exposures remain a possibility. Any additional telecasts will be released as soon as they are finalized.

2002 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE