The renewal of the Marshall-Miami (Ohio) rivalry - with more on the line than in recent years - has found a home on national TV. Check that: on your laptops and phones.
The game is on ... Facebook. Exclusively on Facebook, as in nowhere else.
Whoopeeeeeeeee!
The same medium that brings you goofy memes, cat videos and parents bragging about their children is bringing you some good ol' Marshall football at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, when the Thundering Herd battles the RedHawks at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
I'm torn every which way on this one.
The world's popular media site is looking to increase its video offerings, and is partnering with the rebranded Stadium network (formerly American Sports Network) to offer nine Conference USA games and six from the Mountain West. The games are offered on the "Watch" tab, which launched Aug. 9.
Strangely, I can't find the "Watch" tab, so I recommend another Facebook outlet, the "Stadium: Live College Football" page instead.
(And the Smock on Herd Sports page, of course. No, the game is not airing there.)
To their credit, TV-money-starved C-USA and the Mountain West are looking for creative ways to expand exposure. So is the cash-rich NFL, for that matter - the league and Twitter, the superior social media channel according to me, are streaming 10 Thursday night games.
(Thursday night games are the worst of pro football, but I digress.)
So this is the future of televised sports? I don't know.
Honestly, I could live with watching everything on laptop screen and my phone (5-inch screen, please). I wouldn't mind saving a bundle in the process, and I might have already cut the cord if I didn't have considerations with which I won't bore you.
But I am slow to attach credibility to online outlets, at least in relation to broadcast and cable networks. And the big question: Can C-USA and other "Group of 5" leagues turn a buck out of this?
I doubt it, to tell you the truth. I know one thing: I place more stock in what is aired on broadcast than what is only streamed online.
Maybe I shouldn't. If I told you what Stadium is airing on your old-fashioned flat-screen TV, you might rip it out of the wall if you are an out-of-town Herd fan.
Drum roll ... At 2:30 p.m. on Stadium, you have the mighty Bulldogs of Alabama A&M welcoming Alabama-Birmingham back to college football. I'm interested in that subplot, but really - that game on broadcast and MU-Miami online only?
Somehow, my mind wanders back to the early 1990s, when pay-per-view was considered the future. How did that work out?
Am I being too crotchety in my advanced youth? You make the call.
In the meantime, hit me up on Twitter during the game and tell me how things are going on Facebook. And consider what an odd sentence that is.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.