A Utes vs. Ags blackout?

Local football fans may not be able to see the Utah-Utah State game on TV — and it's BYU's fault.

Well, that's not exactly true. The fault would lie with ESPN and the Mountain West Conference. But it would be as a result of the BYU-Georgia Tech game.

The Cougars and the Yellow Jackets will be playing in Provo on Thursday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m. MDT on ESPN2. Which is a half-hour after the Utes and the Aggies will kick off their seasons in Salt Lake City.

Under the terms of the contract that the Mountain West Conference signed with ESPN and its affiliated outlets — ESPN2, ESPN-plus (the syndication package) and ABC — anytime one league team is being televised on one of those venues, no other game involving a MWC team can be televised on any competing channel. Unless, of course, ESPN grants the competitor a waiver.

The folks at KJZZ-Ch. 14 would very much like to televise the Utah-USU game. And the folks at Utah would very much like to have them do it. Which is why they're currently talking to the folks at ESPN about it.

Actually, this is a problem that's going to repeat itself just nine days later. The BYU-at-USC game on Saturday, Sept. 6, will be carried regionally by ABC at 6 p.m. MDT. The Utah-at-Texas A&M game is scheduled to start an hour earlier, meaning the games would overlap.

Again, KJZZ and Utah would like that game to be on local TV. Again, they're going to have to ask ESPN/ABC for permission.

There is at least one other possible conflict. The Air Force-at-BYU game on Saturday, Sept. 27, is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ESPN-plus (which is seen on KJZZ in Utah), which would require the Utah-at-Colorado State game that same day to kick off later in the afternoon in order to be on local TV. (Which would make for a great KJZZ doubleheader, wouldn't it?)

Of course, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN-plus and ABC could opt to pick up other games involving the Utes or the Cougars, which could knock the other team off the air. Or, at least, force some kickoff-time adjustments.

And let's not forget that there are six other Mountain West Conference teams whose TV appearances could complicate local broadcast schedules for BYU and Utah.

Isn't the Mountain West's TV contract a wonderful thing?

A SCHEDULE IMPROVEMENT: While we're kicking ESPN around a bit for the havoc is wreaks on college football schedules and local TV plans, let's thank the network for one such change.

At ESPN's request, the Boise State-at-BYU game that was going to be played on Friday, Oct. 31 — a most inconveniently scheduled Halloween contest — will now be played on Thursday, Oct. 30. Which is certainly an improvement.

Oh, wait. The reason the game was going to be played on Halloween to begin with (instead of Saturday, Nov. 1) was so that ESPN2 could televise it.

Ah, well . . .

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com