All 12 SEC teams will be in action this weekend, and all 12 games will be televised in some form.  This is mostly a note-to-self, but someone else might find it useful.  Or we could all just bookmark this page.

Thursday:

 7:00:  South Carolina at N.C. State (ESPN-HD)

That’s right – the SEC and ACC are the opening acts for the west coast headliners.  South Carolina has enjoyed this opening Thursday slot several times lately, but it’s usually been some ugly football.  No matter…hook up the IV and let the football drip…drip…drip…

 10:15 PM:  Oregon @ Boise State (ESPN-HD)

Few teams have as much on the line this weekend as the Broncos.  The national title game is out of the picture regardless, but a win here could still be their gateway to another BCS bowl.

Saturday:

10:00 AM:  College Gameday (ESPN-HD)

Everything about the show is beyond parody now, but you’ll still watch it.  The crappy intro, cartoonish hosts, predictable storylines, crowd trying too hard, and of course the obligatory Tebow human interest story – it’ll all be there, but we’ll all be tuned in.  I can’t think of another major sport that has a single  this kind of hold on the sport’s collective conscious.   The Gameday intro, whether performed by Bubba Sparxxx, Kenny Chesney, or the Wiggles, is the shrill factory whistle letting us all know that it’s business time.  You’ll be too busy watching for milliseconds of your team’s highlights in the opening montage anyway. 

Noon:  Kentucky vs. Miami of Ohio (ESPNU-HD)

Not much reason to watch other than it’s the first SEC game of the day.

 12:21 PM:  Western Kentucky @ Tennessee (ESPN Regional / SEC Network – HD)

Two debuts here:  Kiffin’s debut against WKU is all well and good, but it’s also the first broadcast on the new ESPN Regional network that will be taking the place of the weekly Jefferson Pilot game.  Tune in to see how the broadcast survives with only one Dave.

 3:30 PM:  Georgia @ Oklahoma State (ABC-HD)

3:30 PM:  Jackson State @ Mississippi State (ESPNU-HD)

Um…OK.  If you’re at a bar with 700 TVs, you might ask to turn one to Dan Mullen’s debut in Starkville and peek at it between commercials.

 7:00 PM:  BYU vs. Oklahoma (ESPN-HD)

You can tune in to see if college punters can get as much elevation as their NFL counterparts, but the game itself features two teams looking for a bit of legitimacy.  An Oklahoma loss would do a lot of damage to their chances of producing consecutive BCS and Heisman finalists.  BYU has an outside shot at playing for the national title if they run the table, but none of that happens without a win here.

7:00 PM:  Charleston Southern @ Florida (FSS / Sun – HD)

If this game loses your interest after, say, the first minute, you can always stay on the lookout for the elusive I-formation.

7:00 PM:  Louisiana Tech @ Auburn (ESPNU-HD)

Two more debuts:  the Chizik experiment and ESPNU’s Saturday evening SEC game.  Make it a game:  will there be more Florida touchdowns or Auburn completed passes?

7:00 PM:  Missouri State @ Arkansas (PPV/Gameplan)

Realize that this is Arkansas’ only game until Georgia visits in a few weeks.

7:30 PM:  Western Carolina at Vanderbilt (CSS)

Don’t mistake this for a repeat of the high school game CSS shows on Friday evenings.

 8:00 PM:  Alabama vs. Virginia Tech (ABC-HD)

Bama launched their 2008 season with a win over an ACC team in Atlanta.  Their most recent trip to the Dome wasn’t as pleasant.

 10:30 PM:  LSU @ Washington (ESPN-HD)

Lookit!  SEC!  Travel!  West coast!  Distance!  Will they finally love us?  I know…I’ll probably be asleep by then too.

Sunday:

 3:30 PM:  Ole Miss @ Memphis (ESPN-HD)

The Snead Stampede gets going with a rivalry game.  It’s Sunday, the NFL won’t start for another week, so you’ll watch.

Monday:

4:00 PM:  Cincinnati @ Rutgers (ESPN-HD)

Rutgers seems to be as good of a choice to win the Big East as anyone.  Fortunately we’re past the point where that comes with national title hopes.  Still, they’re at a critical stage of building a program:  the first wave of program-changing talent has moved through.  Now do they regress back to historical results or can the next wave of players sustain and improve on what they have?

 8:00 PM:  Miami @ FSU (ESPN-HD)

I think “pity” is now the default frame of mind in which to watch this game.