Labor Day and Thursday Primetime Matchups Highlight Early College Football Selections for 2009

Miami at Florida State Returns to Labor Day; 12 Thursday Night Matchups Determined

A top rivalry on Labor Day and marquee matchups on Thursday nights are among the telecasts slated for ESPN’s 2009 college football schedule.  Additional games will be announced in the coming months.  Highlights include:

• ESPN will televise Miami at Florida State on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. ET.  It will mark the first time the intrastate ACC rivals have played on Labor Day since 2006, which was ESPN’s most-viewed college football game ever with 6,330,000 households (based on a 6.9 rating).  ABC also televised the matchup on Labor Day in 2005.

• ESPN’s popular Thursday night series -- ESPN College Football Primetime – will kick off September 3 at 7 p.m. with South Carolina at N.C. State.  ACC teams will be involved in six of ESPN’s Thursday night telecasts in 2009, including the first-ever game from North Carolina.  Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and North Carolina will play in two Thursday games while Florida State, Miami, Clemson and N.C. State will play one each.

• In addition to the opening Thursday game, South Carolina will host SEC foe Mississippi Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m.

• A Big 12 institution will be the home team on three of ESPN’s Thursday night games, including Texas playing Texas A&M in primetime on Thanksgiving for the second consecutive year (ESPN previously televised the in-state rivalry between the Aggies and Longhorns from 1984-89 and 1991-93).  Last year was the first time a Big 12 Conference school was the host on an ESPN Thursday telecast.

In addition, Nebraska will play at Missouri in the first Thursday game from Columbia. Mo. since 1992 and Oklahoma State will host Colorado in the first Thursday game ever from Boone Pickens Stadium.

• ESPN will televise the annual Civil War rivalry game pitting Oregon State at intrastate Pac-10 Conference rival Oregon Thursday, Dec. 3, at 9 p.m., marking the first-ever Thursday game from Oregon.

• Two Saturday night telecasts will include:
• Saturday Night Football on ABC, the first and only weekly college football primetime series on broadcast television, will include Texas Tech at Texas September 19 at 8 p.m.  Last season’s thrilling matchup featured Texas Tech defeating then-#1 Texas on a last-second touchdown pass, giving Texas their only loss of the season.

• ESPN will televise USC at Ohio State in primetime Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m.  USC defeated Ohio State 35-3 last year in the first meeting between the traditional powers since 1990.  USC has not lost to Ohio State since 1974.

The 2009 schedule through February 12, 2009 (additional selections will be announced):

Date                     Time (ET)             Network                     Game

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