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Greetings from "Can't Wait For Saturday," your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He'll give you his views each day on the game he loves.
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For years, the NFL has made a production out of its schedule reveal. We are in the middle of it now, with drips and drabs of information popping out daily to unveil who plays who when and where.
It is not overly offensive, just unnecessary. The sport already gets plenty of well-deserved attention for its product on the field, which is special. And the draft has turned into a spectacal thanks to gargantuan crowds. Cool.
I am worried college football is going to head down this road too. On Tuesday, ESPN and its family of networks released their schedules for the first few weeks of the season, including the whereabouts of the popular "GameDay."
This is where I point out that of all the schools in the Power Four, Illinois is one of a handful to have never been selected to host "GameDay." And given that Illinois and the Big Ten are now tied to Fox as their main TV distributor, it could take extraordinary circumstances for the drought to end. If ever.
Back to the schedule, no surprise that the rematch of Ohio State-Texas scheduled for Sept. 12 will be shown at 6:30 p.m. (Champaign-Urbana time) on ABC.
Because Texas is the home team, its network partner (ABC/ESPN) has rights to the broadcast.
Remember a year ago when Fox asked Texas to play the game in Columbus at night and the Longhorns balked? This is why Texas has few friends among teams in its league.
The Buckeyes didn't let last year's hiccup bother them, beating the Longhorns at home. A feat I suspect they will repeat in Austin.