May 17, 2005
IRVING, Texas - Conference USA has announced its television schedule for the 2005 football season. The schedule features a minimum of 31 games to be nationally-televised on ESPN, ESPN 2 or CSTV. Included are a number of unopposed windows that provide tremendous exposure to C-USA, as well as several exciting league matchups, and many challenging non-conference contests.
Conference USA will continue its relationship with ESPN, Inc., having at least 12 regular season contests televised by ESPN or ESPN 2 this fall, including 10 games included in its contract with the network and two additional non-conference games that have been selected by the network through their agreements with other conferences. The inaugural Conference USA championship will also be televised by ESPN on Saturday, December 3.
This season also marks the first year of C-USA's partnership with CSTV: College Sports Television. CSTV and Conference USA recently signed a six-year initial term that includes significant national and regional exposure for football, men's and women's basketball and other C-USA sports. CSTV, the fastest growing independent cable network, has agreements with distributors that serve more than 65 million households nationwide. It deals with the top six distributors - Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner, Charter, Cox and Adelphia, among others - and is expected to be available on cable in all Conference USA markets when the partnership commences this August.
"We are very pleased to have more of our football games on television and distributed to a wider audience than ever before," said Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky. "We have great television partners and we look forward to the best season in the history of our league, " added Banowsky.
The ESPN schedule kicks off with three games on the opening night of the 2005 college football season, Thursday, September 1. UCF will be featured on ESPN at 7:45 p.m. EDT when second-year head coach George O'Leary takes his Golden Knights into Columbia, S.C. for Steve Spurrier's debut as Gamecocks head coach. Over on ESPN 2, a doubleheader featuring C-USA teams is on the docket as Houston hosts Oregon at 7:00 p.m. EDT, followed by Minnesota visiting Tulsa at 10:15 p.m. EDT.
The opening weekend action continues with the first league game of the 2005 season on Sunday, September 4 on ESPN 2. Tulane and Southern Miss, two of the longest-standing rivals in C-USA, renew acquaintances in Hattiesburg, Miss. at 4:00 p.m. EDT. Labor Day (Monday, September 5) caps off the weekend action with a battle between mid-south rivals Memphis and Ole Miss at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (4:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN).
CSTV will air at least 20 national and regional telecasts of C-USA football during the 2005 season. CSTV has selected its national schedule of Conference USA games on Saturdays through October 22. The first four weeks will feature exciting regional inter-conference rivalries with the next four weeks highlighting key C-USA league matchups. The network's debut Conference USA game is Saturday, September 3 when Duke visits East Carolina. Other non-conference rivalries on the docket include TCU at SMU, Mississippi State at Tulane and New Mexico at UTEP. Six different C-USA schools are featured over the first four weeks of the Conference USA league game portion of the schedule.
CSTV will select its national schedule for the final five Saturdays of the season based on a minimum 12-day window. The balance of the other national and regional selections will be released at a later date.
Additional Conference USA football television exposures remain a possibility, and will be released as soon as they are finalized.
C-USA will be split into two divisions this season. East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB and UCF will compete in the East Division. Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa and UTEP comprise the West Division.
2005 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE (confirmed games as of May 17) ESPN SCHEDULEThursday, September 1 UCF at South Carolina 7:45 p.m. EDT/6:45 p.m. CDTMonday, September 5 Mississippi at Memphis 4:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. CDTFriday, October 21 Southern Miss at UAB 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, December 3 C-USA Championship Game TBATuesday, December 20 Wyndham New Orleans Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CSTWednesday, December 21 GMAC Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CSTFriday, December 23 PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. CSTSaturday, December 24 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl 7:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. CSTSaturday, December 31 AutoZone Liberty Bowl 1:00 p.m. EST/Noon CST
ESPN 2 SCHEDULEThursday, September 1 Oregon at Houston 7:00 p.m. EDT/6:00 p.m. CDTThursday, September 1 Minnesota at Tulsa 10:15 p.m. EDT/9:15 p.m. CDTSunday, September 4 Tulane at Southern Miss 4:00 p.m. EDT/3:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, September 10 Kansas State at Marshall TBAFriday, September 16 Houston at UTEP 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDTTuesday, November 1 UAB at Memphis 7:30 p.m. EDT/6:30 p.m. CDTTuesday, November 8 Southern Miss at Marshall 7:30 p.m. EDT/6:30 p.m. CDT
ESPN OR ESPN 2 SCHEDULESaturday, September 10 Southern Miss at Alabama TBAFriday, October 14 UTEP at Tulane 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDT
CSTV NATIONALSaturday, September 3 Duke at East Carolina 1:00 p.m. EDT/Noon CDTSaturday, September 10 TCU at SMU 9:30 p.m. EDT/8:30 p.m. CDTSaturday, September 17 Mississippi State at Tulane 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, September 24 New Mexico at UTEP 9:00 p.m. EDT/8:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, October 1 UTEP at Memphis 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, October 8 Tulsa at Southern Miss 8:00 p.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, October 15 UAB at Marshall 5:00 p.m. EDT/4:00 p.m. CDTSaturday, October 22 Marshall at UTEP 9:00 p.m. EDT/8:00 p.m. CDT