Vanderbilt-Georgia set for 6:30 PM kickoff

Yesterday, Vanderbilt got a bit of a disappointment when CBS announced that the network’s annual college football schedule would not begin until September 14 — meaning the network would not be picking up the Commodores’ season opener against Georgia.

Today came more disappointing news with ESPN’s release of the early season schedule. Vanderbilt and Georgia will play on the SEC Network at 6:30 PM CT. (While ESPN released the schedule for the first three weeks, note that Vanderbilt’s Week 2 game at Purdue falls under the Big Ten’s television deal. I would guess that game will be on the Big Ten Network.) UPDATE: It is on the Big Ten Network at 11 AM CT.

Why is this a disappointment? With a Week 1 SEC game against a marquee opponent, the obvious move would have been a Thursday night opener — as Vanderbilt has often done in the past when it’s opened the season with a home SEC game. But instead of having a featured time slot with few games of national interest going on at the same time, Vanderbilt’s season opener will get buried in an evening time slot on the SEC Network while ESPN broadcasts its annual buffet of Week 1 neutral-site games.