TV Timeout: Iowa football and hoops double-cross this weekend

OVERLAPPING

The wonderful overlaps of college sports seasons begins this weekend both in person for scribes like myself, and for television viewing patterns.

Saturday, ABC (KCRGTV-9 locally) hosts the Iowa-Ohio State football game at 2:30 p.m. Calling the game for ABC is Sean McDonough, Matt Millen and Holly Rowe. At 5 p.m., ESPNU will air the Iowa men's basketball season opener against Texas-San Antonio. Calling the game is Jim Barbar and Mike Kelley.

Iowa's football team has played on five different channels this year. This week's game is the fourth appearance on ABC, while ESPN has aired Iowa three times. The Big Ten Network has broadcasted Iowa twice, while ESPN2 and Fox College Sports each have aired an Iowa game. Next week's season finale against Minnesota is set for either ESPN or ESPN2.

Iowa's basketball team will appear 20 times on the BTN, six times on ESPN's networks and five others on a variety of channels.

Sunday, Iowa's women's basketball team faces either UCLA or Illinois State at 2 p.m. KCRG's digital channel, 9.2, will air the game, but not its main over-the-air channel, which instead carries the Sprint Cup Series race.

NFL HAPPENINGS

The NFL Network begins its fourth year airing live NFL games tonight with the Chicago Bears playing at San Francisco. The NFL Network is celebrating some of this weekend's greatest match-ups by airing some classic battles. The network will re-air five "Classic Games" in their entirety involving the teams. Here are the times and episodes in the network description.

1 p.m. Friday – Green Bay at Dallas (1995 NFC Championship Game)– Emmitt Smith, who rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns, scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn a 27-24 deficit into a 38-27 Cowboys victory. Dallas advanced to its third Super Bowl in four years.

8 p.m. Friday – New England at Indianapolis (Nov. 30, 2003) – New England's defense stopped the Colts three times from the 1-yard line in the final seconds to secure a 38-34 victory. The Patriots jumped out to 17-0 and 31-10 leads, but Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes as Indianapolis mounted a comeback. Tom Brady passed for 236 yards and two touchdowns for New England.

8 a.m. Saturday – Buffalo at Tennessee (1999 AFC Wild Card) – Kevin Dyson caught a cross-field lateral on a kickoff return and sprinted 75 yards for the game-winning touchdown with three seconds remaining to give the Titans a 22-16 victory. The Titans advanced from this “Music City Miracle” victory to Super Bowl XXXIV.

11 a.m. Saturday – New England at Indianapolis (2006 AFC Championship Game) – Down 21-6 at halftime, Peyton Manning led the Colts to 32 second-half points in a 38-34 comeback victory and a berth in Super Bowl XLI. Manning passed for 349 yards in the victory.

2 p.m. Saturday – Green Bay at Dallas (Nov. 24, 1994)– Backup quarterback Jason Garrett led the Cowboys to a team-record 36 second-half points as Dallas overcame an 11-point deficit to win 42-31 on Thanksgiving Day. Garrett passed for 311 yards and two touchdowns while Packers quarterback Brett Favre passed for 257 yards and four touchdowns. Sterling Sharpe was on the receiving end of all four Favre scoring passes.

HERE'S SATURDAY'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL LINEUP:

11 a.m. GAMES

• CBS/KGAN: Tennessee at Mississippi
• ESPN: Michigan State at Purdue
• ESPN Classic: Northwestern at Illinois
• ESPN2: Georgia Tech at Duke
• ESPNU: Florida State at Wake Forest
• BTN: Michigan at Wisconsin (Overflow: Indiana at Penn State, South Dakota State at Minnesota)
• Fox Sports: Texas at Baylor
• VS.: Missouri at Kansas State (11:30 a.m.)

2:30 p.m. GAMES

• ABC/KCRGTV-9: Iowa at Ohio State
• CBS/KGAN: Florida at South Carolina
• ESPN: Miami at North Carolina
• ESPNU: Idaho at Boise State
• Fox/Comcast Sports: Stanford at USC

6 p.m. GAMES

• ESPN: Alabama at Mississippi State
• ESPN2: Auburn at Georgia
• ESPNU: Louisiana Tech at LSU
• VS. Arizona at California
• NBC/KWWL: Western Illinois at Northern Iowa
• ABC/KCRGTV-9: Texas Tech at Oklahoma State (7 p.m.)
• ESPN: Arizona State at Oregon (9:30 p.m.)

SUNDAY'S NFL LINEUP

• CBS/KGAN:Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers (noon)
• FOX/KFXA: Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings (noon)
• FOX/KFXA: Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers (3:15 p.m.)
• NBC/KWWL: New England at Indianapolis (7:15 p.m.)
• ESPN: Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns (7:30 p.m., Monday)

HOOP THERE IT IS

The Big Ten Network will employ long-time CBS college basketball announcer Gus Johnson for 15 games during the league season. Johnson will call two Iowa games: Iowa at Illinois on Jan. 5, and Michigan State at Iowa on Jan. 9.

ESPN attempts its craziest day ever when it airs 24 hours of college basketball on Nov. 17. Iowa's 8 p.m. game against Duquesne is included.  Here's a look at that schedule (times changed to Central):

Tue, Nov 17

11 p.m.

Cal State Fullerton at UCLA

Dave Pasch & Doris Burke

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

1 a.m.

San Diego State at St. Mary's

Terry Gannon & Stephen Bardo

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

3 a.m.

Northern Colorado at Hawaii

Carter Blackburn & Mark Adams

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

5 a.m.

Monmouth at St. Peter's

Bob Wischusen & Tim Welsh

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

7 a.m.

Drexel at Niagara

Jon Sciambi & LaPhonso Ellis

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

9 a.m.

No. 24 Clemson at Liberty

Eric Collins & Adrian Branch

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

11 a.m.

Northeastern at Siena

Sean McDonough & Bill Raftery

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

1 p.m.

Arkansas-Little Rock at Tulsa

Ron Franklin & Fran Fraschilla

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

3 p.m.

Temple at No. 21 Georgetown

Mike Patrick & Len Elmore

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

4:30 p.m.

O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic: Binghamton at Pittsburgh

John Saunders, Bob Valvano & Bob Holtzman

ESPN2 / ESPN360.com

 

5 p.m.

Dick's Sporting Goods NIT from Durham, N.C. (Duke University)*

Brad Nessler & Jimmy Dykes

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

6 p.m.

ESPNU Road to the Championship: No. 9 Tennessee vs. Texas Tech (women's game from San Antonio)

Pam Ward, Kara Lawson & Rebecca Lobo

ESPNU

 

6:30 p.m.

Hall of Fame Showcase: Arkansas vs. No. 23 Louisville (from St. Louis)

Dan Shulman, Bob Knight & Holly Rowe

ESPN2 / ESPN360.com

 

7 p.m.

Gonzaga at No. 2 Michigan State

Dave O'Brien & Steve Lavin

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

7 p.m.

Northern Illinois at Illinois

Lou Canellis & Dickey Simpkins

ESPN360.com

 

8 p.m.

O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic: Duquesne at Iowa

Jim Barbar & Mac McCausland

ESPNU

 

8:30 p.m.

ESPNU Road to the Championship: No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 14 Texas (women's game from San Antonio)

Pam Ward, Kara Lawson & Rebecca Lobo

ESPN2 / ESPN360.com

 

9 p.m.

Hall of Fame Showcase: Memphis vs. No. 1 Kansas (from St. Louis)

Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale & Holly Rowe

ESPN / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile

 

10:30 p.m.

Dick's Sporting Goods NIT from Tempe, Ariz. (Arizona State University)*

Dave Pasch & Doris Burke

ESPN2 / ESPN360.com / ESPN Mobile