Thursday, October 29, 2009

Weekend watchdog

Hokie fans get to start the weekend early the next two weeks.
Virginia Tech hosts North Carolina on ESPN Thursday Night football, and next week visits East Carolina on Thursday. Which means plenty of time to see what other teams are up to on Saturday.
ABC features USC and Texas again in prime time - Texas at Oklahoma State and USC at Oregon. In the late afternoon time slots, ACC country will see Miami at Wake Forest. Other choices are Michigan visiting Illinois, Kansas at Texas Tech and California at Arizona State.
Notre Dame goes prime time for its meeting with Washington on NBC. In the SEC, it's the big Georgia-Florida game from Jacksonsville.
ESPN offers undefeated Iowa hosting Indiana at noon, followed by Northwestern-Penn State with South Carolina-Tennessee in prime time. ESPN2 has Purdue at Wisconsin at noon, and ACC country gets Michigan-Illinois from the ABC offerings.
West Virginia teams get ESPN airtime in unusual time slots this weekend. The Mountaineers visit South Florida Friday, while Marshall takes on Central Friday Sunday night.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Comcast has Missouri visiting Colorado at 1:30 p.m. Versus features Nebraska visiting Baylor at noon, followed by UNLV visiting undefeated TCU.
MASN's afternoon kicks off with Rutgers facing Connecticut, followed by Presbyterian at Liberty. (Yes, the Blue Hose vs. the Flames). They pick up Louisiana Tech at Idaho when that contest concludes.
Trick-or-treating and the World Series go together, right? The Phillies host the Yankees in Game 3 Saturday night, with the series continuing through November 5 if necessary. Then it's only three months or so until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
The Phillies' presence in the playoffs made the day for FOX football. Their doubleheader features the Giants at Eagles early, moved from 4:15 p.m. to make room for baseball. The NFL then moved Brett Favre's return to Green Bay into the second slot to show to most of the country. (Carolina-Arizona only goes to Arizona and the Carolinas).
CBS has the undefeated Broncos at Ravens. NBC takes off Sunday night for the World Series, while ESPN has the Saints hosting the Falcons Monday night.
NASCAR's Chase for the Cup heats up with a trip to Talladega Sunday on ABC.
ESPN's Friday Night NBA doubleheader features the Bulls taking on the Celtics early, followed by the Mavericks at Lakers. TNT's Thursday doubleheader is Spurs at Bulls followed by Denver at Portland.
The Wizards are in Atlanta Friday on Comcast, then have New Jersey Saturday for their home opener.
The Capitals visit Atlanta Thursday, host the Islanders Friday and Columbus Sunday afternoon.
The MLS playoffs have begun, and ESPN2 shows Houston at Seattle Thursday at 10 p.m. In case the Hokies, the NBA or Game 2 of the World Series don't catch your interest.

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