Will State ever play on CBS?

I don’t have an official count, but I believe the last time MSU played on the CBS game of the week was when we hosted #15 Auburn in 2000 (we were ranked #20), a game State won 17-10. That was a week after we beat #3 Florida at home, on CBS, 47-35. But since then…nothing. No sniffs from CBS. State hasn’t exactly done much to deserve being on the network, having 8 losing seasons out of 10 since 2000, but it would be nice to finally play a game on there.

Ole Miss played Tennessee on CBS last year. In fact, Ole Miss has played several games on CBS in the last few years (vs. LSU, Alabama, etc.), but MSU hasn’t made their broadcast. It may not seem like a big deal, but it can be with regards to recruiting. That is national television, on a station everyone with a TV set has. And no other SEC game can be up against CBS’ broadcast (unless another SEC team is playing a non-conference road game – which is rare). So all the eyes in SEC country on are that game, and that’s the #1 game of the week, it’s where you want to be.

So far this year the breakdown of teams playing on CBS is like this (# in parenthesis is how many times they’ve played on CBS this season):

Florida (3)
LSU (3)
Alabama (2)
Tennessee (2)
*Auburn (2)
Arkansas (1)
*South Carolina (1)

*The Auburn at South Carolina game wasn’t the marquee (#1) game of the week, but it was on CBS (#2 game)…and was the only SEC game that could be shown at the time since it was on CBS.

This week they will broadcast the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party and give Florida their 4th appearance, and Georgia their first. And then of course the next week they will have the ‘Game of the Century’ between LSU and Alabama.

But, the next week, could there be a chance for State to play on CBS? First, if there’s going to be any chance at all the Dawgs have to beat Kentucky and UT-Martin to go to 5-4. Then Alabama comes to town. Obviously, CBS wants to broadcast the best teams…and Alabama is one of them. LSU is the other, but they are hosting Western Kentucky so that won’t be chosen. Ole Miss vs. LA Tech – no. Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky – no. The other games are Tennessee at Arkansas (they’d choose our game over that most likely), Florida at South Carolina (I would think they’d choose our game over that unless Florida beats Georgia to make this game more meaningful), and Auburn at Georgia (they will likely pick this game over ours).

There’s a chance that game could be picked up by CBS, but it’s probably not a good chance. The South Carolina game would have been perfect if State could have beaten Auburn and Georgia. LSU at Tennessee that week was not an appealing game, but two top 15 teams would have been. Perhaps State’s best shot this year would have been at Arkansas. There are not many good games that weekend…mostly SEC teams playing FCS opponents. If MSU was 8-2 or 7-3 going into that game vs. a Top 10 Arkansas it probably would’ve made it. As it stands now CBS probably will not have a game that weekend and hold out for an extra game on Thanksgiving weekend.

Hopefully we’ll get chosen when we play Alabama (and play well too). If we don’t, we’ll just have to wait another year. Maybe one day they’ll pick MSU.

And if it wasn’t enough that CBS doesn’t include us, they go and trade spots with ESPN for the Alabama/LSU game so it can be at 8:00…and MSU will play UT-Martin at 7:30…so now we have to change the channel from our beloved Dawgs if we want to watch the ‘game of the century’.