Pac 12 Network releases early fall football schedule

Don’t read this if you love Pac 12 football but make monthly package payments to DirecTV. I am a member of this club and definitely will not read this story after I write it.

The Pac 12 Network released the first batch of 15 college football games that will exclusively air on the Pac 12 Network this fall. There will be 35 in total.

The conference and DirecTV have yet to reach a contractual agreement, so all the games for us can be found on the Non-Discovery Channel.

Partial blacked-out guide for DirecTV customers:

Week 1: Northern Arizona at Arizona (They’re the Lumberjacks and they’re OK), Eastern Washington at Oregon State.

Also: Nevada at UCLA. First chance to miss last year’s Holiday Bowl loser to Baylor.

Week 2: Boat-load slate led by Portland State at California. It’s a paycheck game for Portland and a gut-check game for Cal. Also: Weber State at Utah.

Week 3: Boston College at USC. Now I’m irritated and forced to local watering hole to chronicle a BC team I follow on a daily basis.

Week 5: California at Oregon. Ouch, another arrow through my Pac 12-loving solar plexus. This game is listed as TBD which stands for Too Bad DirecTV.

Week 6: Oregon at Colorado. No skin lost here: the easiest opponent Oregon will face next to “Bye Week.”

“Stay tuned for additional announcements regarding Pac 12 Networks fall football programming slate,” the conference released in a statement.

You bet -- keep us all posted (and in the dark).

The Pac 12 Network, entering Year 2, is increasing the number of live events we can’t see from 550 to 750.

Any reason for DirecTV customers to feel optimistic about a deal getting done before the fall (...of North Korea)?

“At this point in time I don’t have any reason to be optimistic about it but remain very focused about reaching out to them,” Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott said this week.

Read that as: “Pac 12 chances of making deal...It’s a reach.”

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