2004 C-USA Football Television Schedule

Cory Rodgers

Conference USA has announced its television schedule for the 2004 football season. The schedule features a minimum of 28 games to be televised on at least five different networks. 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 and ESPN Inc. begin the fourth season of an exclusive eight-year agreement to televise Conference USA football this fall. The contract incorporates ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Regional, ABC Sports, ESPN.com and ESPN Classic. The contract includes exclusive national cable television coverage on ESPN and ESPN 2, including special mid-week games.

The schedule kicks off with four nationally-televised games during Labor Day weekend. TCU opens the 2004 C-USA football season when it hosts Northwestern at 9:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 2 on ESPN 2. Saturday, September 4 offers the first of three consecutive days of nationally-televised games when Tulane travels to Mississippi State for an ESPN2 game that airs at 6:00 p.m. EST. The next day, Sunday, September 5, Louisville and Kentucky battle for Bluegrass State bragging rights at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN 2. Labor Day (Monday, September 6) caps off the weekend action with a battle between Pittsburgh and USF in Tampa that airs at 4:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN.

The league will have a record six Thursday night appearances this fall. In addition to the TCU-Northwestern matchup during opening week, non-conference battles between California at Southern Miss and Miami (Fla.) at Houston, as well as Louisville visiting Miami (Fla.) will be broadcasted. Thursday night league action showcases Houston at Southern Miss on October 7 and Louisville at Memphis on November 4.

Conference USA Football will return to ABC this fall when the network shows the Southern Miss at Nebraska game on Saturday, September 11. Kickoff in Lincoln is set for Noon EST.

Three Conference USA football games will appear on a syndicated package on ESPN Plus, with three additional exposures airing on ESPN Plus as part of other regional packages.

In addition to the games slated for ESPN Inc., CBS will air the annual Army-Navy battle as part of its network package on Saturday, December 4 in Philadelphia, Pa., and TBS will show the Houston at Oklahoma game on Saturday, September 11 in Norman as part of its Saturday night college football package.

Additional Conference USA football television exposures remain a possibility, and will be released as soon as they are finalized.

2004 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE