Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Daily Cal: ASU Cal Game to be Televised

Link.

Homecoming Game Against Arizona State Will Be Televised on ABC

When the Cal football team welcomes Arizona State to Memorial Stadium on Oct. 4, with a chance to avenge last season's 31-20 defeat to the Sun Devils in Tempe, Ariz., it will do so in front of a semi-national television audience.

The Pac-10 conference announced on Monday that the game will kick off at 12:30 p.m. and be televised on ABC. It will be the third time that the Bears have been featured on national television this season, and it continues a rising trend of televised games for the program since the beginning of the Jeff Tedford era in 2002.

Cal has played before a television audience 60 times since Tedford came to Berkeley-a significant jump from just 35 in the five seasons prior to his arrival.  Of course, the last national broadcast didn't quite help the Bears' image, as they were upset by Maryland back east on ESPN. Cal tumbled from the national rankings after one week at No. 23.  Still, the odds of the Bears and Arizona State showing up on TV across the country are slim. Right now, the marquee game scheduled for that time is a Big Ten clash between No. 22 Illinois and unranked Michigan in the Big House.  Although the Wolverines are floundering in their first year under Rich Rodriguez, that telecast will more than likely dominate viewership in the Midwest and on the East Coast.  Meanwhile, this weekend's home game against Colorado State will also be televised, albeit to a smaller audience. Like the Washington State game in week two, Saturday's tilt is being broadcast by Comcast SportsNet West.  Although CSN West is included with basic cable in most of Northern California, the channel is available only on digital cable in the Bay Area. However, Comcast subscribers can access the game broadcast on cable Channel 99 beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

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