Written by Mike Spinelli

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The Mid-American Conference is going to be on the tube 56 times this season, with games being shown live on several national and regional networks. This doesn't include the Conference Championsip Game, at least three bowl games, the MAC Preview Show, a mini-series, and a weekly TV show featuring the Akron Zips. I am going to need a bigger DVR...

 

Let's start with SportsTime Ohio. STO gets everybody ramped up for the 2012 season with a five episode mini-series called "Relentless: An Inside Look at Ohio Football '12". And the network kicks the season off with the "MAC Football Preview '12", airing several convenient times the week before the season openers. And during the season a new weekly series "Zips Football with Terry Bowden '12 " highlights the University of Akron.

The ESPN family of networks will include at least nine nationally televised regular season games on ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3. The first six weeks feature games on ESPN Regional Television (ETN), ESPN Game Plan, and ESPN3. Nine mid-week games will be shown on ESPN2 and ESPNU (four each) as the conference races unfold. Most of these games are late in the season as the division races play out.

In the post season, the 15th MAC Football Championship game will be televised on ESPN2 Friday, Nov. 30 from Ford Field in Detroit. The winner goes on to face the Sun Belt champion in the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile Alabama (the former GMAC Bowl). The second place MAC team plays a Big Ten team in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl at Ford Field (the former Motor City Bowl), and a third MAC team will play a WAC team in the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. All thre bowl games are slated for ESPN. MAC teams could also be invited to the New Mexico Bowl and the BBVA Compass Bowl, also on ESPN.

Other exposure comes from the non-conference schedule, which includes games against the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-12 and SEC, Army, Navy, and Boise State.  

Here is the tentative schedule as of today. Check college websites for the latest updates on networks and streaming. ESPN3, and cable service sports network games are not listed.

Akron Zips tentative television schedule (radio WARF 1350 AM)