Late night in Tucson

So, yeah, Arizona is a 9:30 p.m. Iowa time kickoff afterall. That's what I was hearing a month ago, but certainly hedged my bets in this post.

Anyway, 9:30 Iowa time on ESPN. That's 7:30 p.m. Tucson time. Here's a link for tickets, because I know quite a few of you are planning on the trip.

Here's the release from ESPN:

ESPN Announces Select 2010 Pac-10 College Football Telecasts

 ESPN has announced 16 college football game selections involving Pacific-10 Conference teams for the 2010 season, including 12 conference-controlled games and four road contests. Overall, ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise 20 Pac-10 home games, with additional selections announced as the season progresses. To date, ESPN has selected 25 games involving teams from the Pac-10 for the 2010 season, including a minimum of three for Saturday Night Football on ABC, the only weekly prime-time series on broadcast television.

 • The early selections include multiple games involving three teams ranked in an ESPN.com early preseason top 25 for 2010:

• Five featuring defending Pac-10 champion No. 10 Oregon, including one against No. 24 Stanford – the only Pac-10 team to defeat the Ducks last year – Saturday, Oct. 2, at 11:15 p.m. on ESPN.

• Eight involving perennial power No. 15 USC, led by new head coach Lane Kiffin and quarterback Matt Barkley, including one against rival Notre Dame on Saturday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

• Four games involving No. 24 Stanford, led by sophomore quarterback Andrew Luck, projected by ESPN's Todd McShay as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, should he enter.

 • The schedule features three matchups between teams ranked in the ESPN.com early preseason top 25, including two Saturday Night Football on ABC broadcasts, both at 8 p.m.: No. 15 USC at No. 24 Stanford Saturday, Oct. 9, and No. 10 Oregon at No. 15 USC Saturday, Oct. 30. ESPN will televise No. 24 Stanford at No. 10 Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 11:15 p.m.

 • A minimum of four Saturday late-night games, including two on Saturday, Sept. 18: No. 11 Iowa at Arizona at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN, and Wake Forest at No. 24 Stanford at 11:15 p.m. on ESPN2. An additional two games will pit No. 24 Stanford at UCLA on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN and No. 24 Stanford at No. 10 Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 11:15 p.m. on ESPN.

• ESPN's popular Thursday night ESPN College Football Primetime series will feature four telecasts involving Pac-10 teams, including No. 15 USC at Hawaii (Sept. 2 at 11 p.m.), UCLA at No. 10 Oregon (Oct. 21 at 9 p.m.), UCLA at Washington (Nov. 18 at 8 p m.) and Arizona State at Arizona (Dec. 2 at 8 p.m.).

______

Arizona finished 8-5 after a 33-0 loss to Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.

Quarterback Matt Scott started the Iowa game and floundered. Nick Foles, a Michigan State transfer took over late in the fourth and drove the Wildcats to a TD. After that, it was Foles' ball.

After playing little in the Cats' first three games, Foles, 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, earned honorable mention all-Pac-10. He finished with 2,486 yards, a completion percentage of 63.4, threw 19 touchdowns against nine interceptions and had an efficiency rating of 125.25. The yards were sixth most in school history, TD throws were fourth best and completion percentage is in top 10. His 260 completions and 410 attempts were No. 2 in school history.

He looks like Jeff Spicoli.

________

So, now we know kickoffs for Arizona (9:30), Penn State (7) and Michigan (2:30). We also know just one night game at Kinnick.

So here are best guesses at the rest:

9-4 - Eastern Illinois at Kinnick: 11 a.m.

9-11 - Iowa State at Kinnick: Again, 11 a.m. maybe 2:30 if it lands on one of the ESPNs.

9-18 - At Arizona: It's 9:30 Iowa time, which means all day in Tucson.

9-25 - Ball State at Kinnick: 11 a.m.

10-2 - Penn State at Kinnick: 7 p.m.

BYE WEEK: Yeah, just try getting me off the recliner.

10-16 - At Michigan: 2:30 p.m.

10-23 - Wisconsin at Kinnick: This will be 11 a.m. or 2:30. Could be 2:30 because Wisconsin will have played Ohio State the previous week. A lot of the talk now has Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin as the teams to beat in the Big Ten this year. Luckily, all three teams play each other.

10-30 - Michigan State at Kinnick: Reader gllynch did some research. He wrote 2:30 and I tend to agree. Here's what he wrote on a previous post: "Michigan State will be a 2:30 ABC game also. ABC/ESPN has already selected both Michigan vs. PSU and Ohio State vs. Minnesota as night games. The only other options for the 2:30 slot are Purdue vs. Illinois and Northwestern vs. Indiana, neither of which would be selected ahead of Iowa vs. MSU.

"Iowa will not play at 11:00 nor be on the BTN during the month of October. Strange, as I really like those 11:00 games during mid-fall."

Thank you, Mr. Lynch. I can't argue with that. This could easily be hyped as one of the Big Ten's hottest rivalries. The last three games have been decided by a grand total of 12 points. In 2007, Iowa came back from a 14-point third quarter deficit and beat Sparty 34-27 in two OTs. The Spartans won a tough battle in East Lansing in 2008 when something happened with the fullback on fourth down and Shonn Greene was stopped for a loss.

Of course, you remember last season.

11-6 - At Indiana: 11 a.m. Iowa-Indiana has been a night game in my 12 years doing this -- remember Buetjer at Indiana? -- but it won't be this year.

11-13 - At Northwestern: 11 a.m. Unless the ‘Cats are having that Cinderella season, I don't see this moving to the 2:30 slot.

11-20 - Ohio State at Kinnick: 2:30 p.m., ABC.

11-27 - At Minnesota: This could be 2:30. Another reader brought up the fact that Michigan-Ohio State has been an 11 a.m. game in this slot the last couple seasons. That could bump Iowa-Minny to 2:30 in the Hawkeyes' debut at TCF Bank.