Navy on major networks four times in 2012

It’s still three years before Navy plays in a BCS conference but already the Mids are gaining a foothold in college football’s national television schedule. Navy officials announced on Thursday that the Sept. 15th game at Penn State would be televised on ABC/ESPN2. That wasn’t the first announcement this month that Navy would be on big time television.

The ABC-Penn State announcement comes on the heels of last week’s release that revealed that the Mids’ opening game with Notre Dame in Ireland would be shown on CBS. The Navy-Air Force and Army-Navy games will also appear on that network. Additionally, the Navy-Central Michigan game is set to be on the ESPN2 network.

This development is food for thought for Navy supporters who believed that joining in the Big East would lead to more exposure for the Mids.

A quick scan of the 2011 college football TV schedule shows that Big East member Pittsburgh appeared on the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) only once. Syracuse did not appear on any of the three major networks and neither did Connecticut. Those programs did appear on ESPN flagship network, the original ESPN, at least once each.

Navy being on national networks four times should easily exceed the number of national appearances for any Big East team in 2012. This fact should quash the belief that Navy being in the Big East will bring the Mids more exposure. The fact is Navy’s being in the Big East will bring the Big East more exposure. Yes, membership in the Big East will give the Mids some additional exposure but the Big East needs Navy a lot more than Navy needs the Big East.

In all, 11 of 12 Navy regular season games are set to be televised in some form or another. Only the East Carolina game is not scheduled to be broadcast by video and that could change as the season approaches. Here's a look at Navy's 2012 TV lineup. CBSSN is the "CBS Sports Network".

DATE	OPPONENT	TV
Sept. 01	Notre Dame (Dublin)	CBS
Sept. 15	at Penn State	ABC
Sept. 22	VMI	CBSSN
Sept. 29	San Jose State	CBSSN
Oct. 06	at Air Force	CBS
Oct. 13	at Central Michigan	ESPN2
Oct. 20	Indiana	CBSSN
Oct. 27	at East Carolina	TBA
Nov. 03	Florida Atlantic	CBSSN
Nov. 10	at Troy	ESPN3
Nov. 17	Texas State	CBSSN
Dec. 08	vs. Army	CBS