Honestly?  Nothing too surprising

Week 1: Sam Houston St (Saturday 10:15 Eastern, FS1)

This game was never going to be on a major network - just the nature of the opponent. The idealistic hope would have been ESPN2, just based on it being BYU's inaugural Big 12 showing and the sparsity of good late matchups in week 1...but that was never really likely.  Between ESPN+, ESPNU, and FS1, this is probably the best we could have asked for, but it's not likely to be much of a showcase.

If you're looking for the highest viewership last year in this spot, it's Stanford/Oregon with 672k, then Stanford/Washington with 532k and UCLA/Arizona St in 3rd with 490k. The best BYU showing was BYU/Stanford with 430k (#5 in that slot). If we can get 400k+ here, that's a win

Week 2: Southern Utah (Saturday 3 Eastern, ESPN+)

Not a surprise. You play an FCS opponent, you end up on ESPN+. As BYU fans we've been spoiled to have these games on BYUtv, but this will be the norm moving forward.

Week 3: Arkansas (Saturday, 7 Eastern ESPN2)

Admittedly would have liked to see this one get on ESPN, but the schedule is getting stronger and there's other options. Plus it's in Arkansas so this is about as late as it can go. Games (8 ET and earlier) that beat this out for spots on ABC, FOX, ESPN include

• Florida St / Boston College
• LSU / Mississippi St
• Penn St / Illinois
• Alabama / USF
• Oklahoma / Tulsa OR Minnesota / UNC
• Georgia / South Carolina
• Ohio St / Western Kentucky
• Tennessee / Florida
• Pitt / West Virginia
• Syracuse / Purdue
• TCU / Houston

There's a few you can maybe argue (Syracuse / Purdue and maybe TCU / Houston)... but most of those offer a marquee name-brand team or an intense rivalry

Last year's high-end viewership in this spot was generally in the 500k to 700k range. We'll also be going up nearly head to head against Tennessee/Florida so that will hurt when trying to attract casual viewers 

Week 4: Kansas (TBD)

Very few games scheduled for this week so far, but likely another ESPN2 or FS1 game with an outside shot of ESPN+, but also a chance of ESPN or ABC/Fox. BYU will likely be at least 2-1 (with a shot at 3-0) and Kansas plays a cupcake OOC (Missouri St, Illinois, Nevada).... That said, Kansas hasn't generally drawn well and there's a lot of good other options this week

• Michigan / Rutgers
• aTm / Auburn
• Ohio St / Notre Dame
• USC / Arizona St
• Colorado / Oregon
• UCLA / Utah
• Washington / Cal
• Florida St / Clemson
• Texas / Baylor
• Oklahoma / Cincy
• Alabama / Ole Miss
• LSU / Arkansas

all likely take priority and a few others might as well. This one is also @Kansas so we can't rely on the late window to winnow out the competition

Week 5: Cincinnati (Friday, 10:15 Eastern, ESPN)

Playing on Friday this week in recognition of General Conference means we have limited competition and got the ESPN slot announced early.  That said, it's worth noting we did beat out Utah/Oregon St who will play instead at 9 ET on FS1

Viewership last year in this spot was pretty tough to get a handle on, since ESPN only had two late night Friday games (Washington / UCLA with 1.7M and TCU / Colorado with 1.25M). Most other somewhat comparable games were Thursday, earlier Friday or on ESPN2 (or FS1). That said, the Thursday night and primetime Friday games on ESPN drew fairly well, so this may be our first chance for a broader exposure.