YPSILANTI, Mich. — The Eastern Michigan University football team will have five starting time adjustments due to ESPN Regional and Comcast Local television packages for the 2007 season.
The Eagles' home and Mid-American Conference opener against Ball State, Saturday, Sept. 8, will be live on Comcast Local and will now have a noon kickoff. That EMU-Ball State game will also highlight the 20-year anniversary of EMU's upset win over San Jose State in the 1987 California Bowl. A special two-day celebration will highlight that weekend.
EMU's second home contest, Saturday, Sept. 22, against non-league opponent Howard University, will move from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and the Homecoming tilt, Saturday, Oct. 27, against MAC rival Western Michigan, will also be switched from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern's road contest at Central Michigan was also added to the Comcast Local package and will remain as a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday, Nov. 16. Two other games, the Northwestern versus EMU game at Ford Field in Detroit, Friday, Oct. 19, and the Bowling Green at EMU home game, Friday, Nov. 9, will also be televised on ESPNU. The EMU-Northwestern game will remain as originally scheduled, 7 p.m., but the EMU-Bowling Green contest will kick off at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to the Comcast Local games, EMU will have two road games selected as part of the 2007 Mid-American Conference "Game of the Week" schedule on ESPN Regional Television. The EMU at Northern Illinois contest, Saturday, Sept. 15, is slated for an 11 a.m. (CDT) kickoff and the EMU at Ohio game, Saturday, Oct. 13, will be a noon start as part of the ESPN Regional package.
The 34 markets that will air the 2007 MAC "Game of the Week" schedule represent more than 24 million television households, or 22 percent of the U.S. WXYZ-ABC Channel 7 in Detroit and WXSP-MyTV in Grand Rapids as two of those markets. Some of the other major markets and affiliates include: Chicago (WPWR-MyTV); Philadelphia (WPHL-MyTV); Cleveland (WEWS-ABC); St. Louis (Charter Cable); Indianapolis (WNDY-MyTV); Columbus (WWHO-CW); Cincinnati (WKRC-CBS); Milwaukee (WDJT-CBS); and Buffalo (WNGS-Independent).
Eastern Michigan University 2007 Football Schedule
Day Date Opponent Time
Saturday Sept. 1 at Pittsburgh 6 p.m.
Saturday Sept. 8 BALL STATE* (BAND DAY) (Comcast Local TV) Noon
Saturday Sept. 15 at Northern Illinois* (ESPN Regional TV) 11 a.m.
Saturday Sept. 22 HOWARD UNIVERSITY (Comcast Local TV) 3:30 p.m.
Saturday Sept. 29 at Vanderbilt 6 p.m.
Saturday Oct. 6 at Michigan
Saturday Oct. 13 at Ohio* (ESPN+ TV) Noon
Friday Oct. 19 NORTHWESTERN (ESPNU TV) 7 p.m.
Saturday Oct. 27 WESTERN MICHIGAN* (HOMECOMING) (Comcast Local TV) 3 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 3 at Toledo* 7 p.m.
Friday Nov. 9 BOWLING GREEN* (ESPNU TV) 7 p.m.
Friday Nov. 16 at Central Michigan* (Comcast Local TV) 7 p.m.
*Mid-American Conference game
All times are site times
2007 MAC "Game of the Week" Schedule (All Times at Noon ET)
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Saturday, Sept. 15 |
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois
Cincinnati at Miami |
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Saturday, Sept. 22 |
Temple at Bowling Green |
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Saturday, Sept. 29 |
Northern Illinois at Central Michigan |
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Saturday, Oct. 6 |
Central Michigan at Ball State |
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Saturday, Oct. 13 |
Eastern Michigan at Ohio |
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Saturday, Oct. 20 |
Miami at Temple |
2007 MAC Affiliates
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Chicago |
WPWR-MyTV |
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Philadelphia |
WPHL-MyTV |
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Detroit |
WXYZ-ABC |
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Cleveland |
WEWS-ABC |
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St. Louis |
Charter Cable |
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Indianapolis |
WNDY-MyTV |
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Columbus, Ohio |
WWHO-CW |
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Cincinnati |
WKRC-CBS |
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Milwaukee |
WDJT-CBS |
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Grand Rapids, Mich. |
WXSP-MyTV |
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Las Vegas |
KEGS or KBNY-Independent |
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Buffalo |
WNGS-Independent |
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Little Rock, Ark. |
KWBF-MyTV |
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Dayton, Ohio |
WKEF-ABC |
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Charleston, W.Va. |
WSAZ-DT2-MyTV |
|
Flint, Mich. |
WNEM-DT-CBS |
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Green Bay, Wis. |
WACY-MyTV |
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Toledo, Ohio |
WTVG-ABC |
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Springfield, Mo. |
KWBM-MyTV |
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South Bend, Ind. |
WBND-ABC; WMWB-WB |
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Cedar Rapids, Mich. |
KWWF-Independent |
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Davenport, Iowa |
WBQD-MyTV |
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Evansville, Ill. |
WAZE-CW |
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Fort Smith, Alaska |
KFDF-Independent |
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Youngstown, Pa. |
WYTV-ABC |
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Fort Wayne, Ind. |
WPTA-DT2 |
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Tyler, Texas |
KYTX-DT |
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Lansing, Mich. |
WHTV-MyTV |
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Traverse City, Mich. |
WFQX-Fox |
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Peoria, Ill. |
WAOE-MyTV |
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Rockford, Ill. |
WTVO-DT-ABC |
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Marquette, Wis. |
WMQF-MyTV |
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Wheeling, Ill. |
WTRF-CBS |
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Roanoke, Va. |
WDRL-Independent |
MAC Football
The 2007 football campaign marks the 61st season of MAC football and will culminate with the Marathon MAC Championship Game at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday, Dec. 1 on ESPN or ESPN2. With four MAC schools participating in bowl games last season, the league has produced bowl teams from nine conference schools in the past three years. In addition, the competitiveness of the league has resulted in six schools representing their respective divisions in the last three championship games.
The number of MAC players in the NFL continues to grow as 100 former student-athletes were on active NFL rosters as of June 2007. Among the athletes are offensive tackle Ryan Diem (Northern Illinois) of the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (Miami), who is the youngest professional signal caller to guide his team to the Lombardi Trophy.
The legacy of the MAC was heightened this year with the selection of Central Michigan head coach Herb Deromedi, No. 1 on the all-time wins list in the MAC, to the College Football Hall of Fame. Deromedi joins former great MAC head coaches Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Don James, Don Nehlen, Ara Parseghian, Doyt Perry and Bo Schembechler in the Hall of Fame.
With the 61,500-seat Soldier Field in Chicago already sold out for the Sept. 1 matchup between Northern Illinois and Iowa, MAC football continues to draw interest at new levels.
ESPN Regional Television – Event Ownership
The nation's largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) produces more than 900 sporting events annually. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – Big East, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, Western Athletic). ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including the Bell Helicopter Armed Forced Bowl; the papajohns.com Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl; the PioneerPureVison Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Football Classic; the National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway; and collegiate basketball events including the Spartan Clash (Auburn Hills, MI); the O'Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City, OK); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, FL); the ESPNU Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic (San Juan, PR); and the Anaheim Basketball Classic (Anaheim, CA).