Notre Dame set to meet Northwestern Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. ET/ 6:15 CT/ 5:15 MT/ 4:15 PT on cable’s ESPN

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Both Notre Dame and ESPN are now listing Notre Dame’s game against Northwestern in Evanston as beginning at 6:15 p.m. local time, meaning 7:15 p.m. ET/ 6:15 CT/ 5:15 MT/ 4:15 PT, this coming Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018.

(As an aside, later that night, the clocks will change at 2 a.m., when daylight savings time comes to an end, yet hopefully the game will be over by then.)

Unusual for Notre Dame, the game will not be on broadcast television. Instead it will be shuffled off to the ABC Sports cable channel “ESPN” (technically, apparently now 80%-owned by ABC and 20%-owned by Hearst).  Thankfully, the game also will be covered on radio by the Notre Dame Football Radio Network, undoubtedly with a number of fans turning to radio and online sources.

Placing the game on cable comes despite the fact that undefeated Notre Dame (8-0) is #3 in the AP and Coaches Poll, while Northwestern (5-3) in #1 in the B1G/Big Ten West and is receiving votes in the Coaches Poll.

Northwestern’s season has included a two-touchdown win over then-#20 Wisconsin this past weekend, a win earlier in the season over then-#20 Michigan State and a season-opening win over Purdue, who just knocked off Ohio State.

(Or is this part of a push to prod more people into signing up for cable, or expanding their package?)

Of course, depending on whether or not fans pay to get ESPN, or subscribe to cable in general, attitudes might differ as to whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. The game is on, at least for some, yet ABC apparently used its rights to the game to black it out on regular television and force it over to cable.

One does recall that, back in the day, one of the reasons Notre Dame revolutionized college football media by inking a deal with NBC was to keep their games on nationwide broadcast television, instead of whatever regional, or other, arrangements ABC came up with that varied from a nationwide broadcast.