Being a college football fan subjects you to many headaches. One of them being the fact that game times aren’t announced until 2 weeks before said game if you are lucky, and sometimes the turnaround time can be as short as 6 days.
Planning a trip to watch your favorite team? Pound sand buddy you need to be prepared for either a 12:30PM kickoff or an 8:00PM kickoff with everything in between.
To help I’m going to attempt to predict the game time for every Ducks regular season game for the 2026 season.
Following an announcement at the beginning of May that stated the Ducks week 3 home game against Portland State as well as the week 12 road game against Michigan State were moved to Friday night that takes care of 2 games.
Along with another announcement in late May that announced the start times for the first 2 games of the regular season I only need to take a stab at guessing the remaining 8 regular season games:
Please note that I’ am no insider, just a fan killing some time in the off-season venturing my best guess to maybe try and help fellow Duck fans
Week 4 AT USC
Prediction: 4:30 PM NBC
When the schedule was announced I saw a rumor on reddit that NBC claimed this week as their number 1 pick in the B1G TV draft. That’s the extent of my insider knowledge but given that this will likely be the most anticipated B1G game of the week in week 4 and it features 2 west coast B1G games, so FOX can’t mess it up by putting it at 9AM, the theory checks out and I’m going with it.
Also, a note for the rest of these predictions. Given NBC’s other contractual obligation to Notre Dame, and FOX’s investment in B1G, my assumption is that for the rest of the year FOX and CBS will have picks 1 and 2 for after this week.
Week 6 vs UCLA
Prediction: 12:30 PM FOX
Week 6 is an underrated slate for the B1G as Indiana heads to Nebraska who could still be undefeated and ranked thanks to a weak start to their schedule along with USC travelling to Penn State. I suspect those two games will occupy the FOX Big Noon and CBS afternoon slots. Stanford also travels to Notre Dame, meaning that will likely take up the NBC prime-time slot.
After these matchups Oregon hosting a resurgent UCLA is probably the next best B1G matchup so I suspect FOX will have that as the 2nd of their double header.
Week 7 vs Nebraska
Prediction: 4:30 PM NBC
This is a headline week for the B1G as Ohio State plays at Indiana, and Penn State plays at Michigan. I suspect those two games will take up FOX at Noon and CBS afternoon. With Notre Dame on the road that leaves the NBC primetime open for this game featuring Oregon and Nebraska as the next best game.
Week 8 At Illinois
Prediction: 12:30 PM CBS
This is a tough week to figure out as there is one clear cut best option based on the pre-season with Indiana at Michigan that will likely end up at Big Noon but then 3 other decent options that will come down to network preference such as:
Iowa goes to Minnesota in a rivalry game
USC goes to Wisconsin
And Oregon goes to Illinois who very well could be 5-1 and potentially ranked
I find NBC values regional rivalries with big fan bases a little more than CBS who usually sticks with rankings to make TV selections, so I think NBC takes Iowa Minnesota and CBS takes Oregon Illinois
Week 9 vs Northwestern
Prediction: 4:30 PM BTN
This week has a clear obvious game of the week with Ohio State travelling to USC. Because of the existence of time zones FOX can’t make it its BIG Noon game meaning it will likely take the CBS afternoon slot. After that there isn’t any one game that stands out over the other. Notre Dame is at home to Navy this week taking up the NBC primetime slot meaning all the big TV time slots are occupied for Oregon. Given that Northwestern has a small fanbase and there are some decent B1G games this week as well my guess is it probably doesn’t make FOX’s triple header line up, however it was also announced that this WILL NOT be a late game. My guess is it ends up on BTN in prime time.
Week 10 AT Ohio State
Prediction: 9:00 AM FOX
Now I did hear a rumor that CBS was able to get a hold of this game to ensure that our biggest game of the year isn’t played at the same time as the English Premier League. However, until proven I must assume FOX got its hand on what seems to be the biggest game of the year in the B1G and is going to make Oregon play it’s perceived biggest game of the year at Brunch. At least we know that the morning game isn’t a death nail for the Ducks.
Week 11 vs Michigan
Prediction: 12:30 CBS
For the biggest home game of the year, I must imagine this game gets put into the number 1 slot allowed given that Oregon is in the Pacific time zone. Also, I just hear Brad Nessler’s voice, and I think of Oregon playing Michigan.
Week 13 vs Washington
Prediction: 12:30 CBS
With FOX already announcing they will put Michigan at Ohio at Noon, as they have done every year since they have become the main B1G TV partner in 2017, that leaves Oregon hosting Washington, as the likely 2nd most anticipated rivalry week game in the B1G, to be played at 12:30 on CBS, similar to last year’s game.
