Holy Score: The Big 12 was smart to schedule the Utah-BYU rivalry game in the middle of October

It didn t take long for the grumbling to begin Maybe a sparse minutes At majority an hour Utah and BYU fans were not happy when the Big informed the football schedule last winter and placed the Holy War on the middle Saturday of the middle month of the season Oct What in the world was the conference thinking Why not slot the rivalry at the end of the year alongside so a large number of other storied matchups Why not place it in the same early-November window as last year Or make it the conference opener for both schools Instead the Big and its TV partners slotted the rivalry into the greater part nondescript spot on the -week schedule Because the conference and its TV partners know what they re doing that s why We re days from the rd installment of the Holy War and the evidence to sponsorship the middle-middle strategy is already apparent The Big revealed on Monday that the Holy War will air on the Fox broadcast framework at p m Mountain Time That s p m Eastern Prime time On a broadcast structure Maximum eyeballs for the match Maximum brand exposure for the schools and the conference Put another way The Big placed one of its the majority valuable media properties in a window that provides the audience the tournament deserves Had the Holy War been slotted into the traditional rivalry weekend on the final Saturday of November it would have faced competition from Michigan-Ohio State Alabama-Auburn LSU-Oklahoma Oregon-Washington and USC-UCLA Granted the Big had the option to treat the Holy War in a fashion comparable to last year when it served as the ESPN AfterDark matchup on Nov But the conference and the networks saw the ratings and learned a valuable lesson about the Holy War s value At that point in the season the Utes had lost four in a row and BYU while unbeaten was ranked outside the top and a secondary story on the national scene To a large number of the Cougars were the gang that played late Saturday night and identified creative escapes on a regular basis But the Holy War which started at p m Eastern and ended after a m drew million viewers It was the best AfterDark audience of the season for ESPN with the exception of the USC-UCLA encounter and matchups involving the Colorado ratings machine The other Big games slotted into the late window those that did not involve Deion Sanders Shedeur Sanders and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter averaged just million viewers The Holy War beat that by viewers or percent If you re the Big and Fox and see that number the response is obvious If the Holy War can top million viewers in the AfterDark window on cable imagine what it could do in a prime-time window on one of the broadcast networks The trick of class was finding just the right Saturday The comparable date this season Nov features one marquee championship LSU-Alabama and two matchups the networks expected to have major implications when the Big schedule was finalized Indiana-Penn State and Florida State-Clemson Why Oct Yes the Holy War is competing with Alabama-Tennessee which will undoubtedly generate a massive audience But to a certain extent it s impossible to find a Saturday without at least one high-level SEC matchup Related Articles College Football Playoff passes on Phoenix again as host for championship championship Pac- bowl picks Oregon to CFP ASU to Alamo and UW to Las Vegas Big power rankings Texas Tech BYU and a look at remaining schedules Big Ten power rankings Jedd Fisch silent on excuses as UW escapes Pac- power rankings for Wk Fresno St San Diego St gain traction That s why Disney agreed to pay roughly million annually for the SEC s Tournament of the Week And don t forget When the Big placed the Holy War on the middle Saturday of the middle month the conference didn t know which architecture Fox or ESPN would air the challenge or which broadcast window it would be assigned But it longed the option for a maximum-audience experience and might get a dream scenario The Cougars are th in the AP poll this week while the Utes are just outside the Top If both teams win this weekend BYU visits Arizona and Utah hosts Arizona State the Holy War likely will be a ranked-vs -ranked matchup that the networks covet No matter how it plays out a certain segment of Holy War fandom will unfailingly prefer the end of the season which is understandable But the Big has to consider the branding aspect and practicality trumps tradition and local interests The conference must place its best inventory in the bulk advantageous windows Nobody wants the alternative a rivalry encounter with no media value Send suggestions comments and tips confidentiality guaranteed to wilnerhotline bayareanewsgroup com or call - - Follow me on the social media platform X WilnerHotline