Today is the third Thursday in November, which means one thing and one thing only to me and many of you reading this: we are now officially one week away from the greatest meal of the year.

We are also one week away from a day when it is generally accepted in most households that the TV will be tuned to football all day long.

And, of course, we’re one week away from being able to share a wonderful day with friends and family and let them know that we are thankful for their presence in our lives.

But you don’t need our help with that. You’re here for one thing and one thing only: the Thanksgiving Day TV schedule for the NFL and college football games that will accompany our turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and eventual food coma.

Let’s get right to it.

Keep in mind that I am posting this on November 19th. So, depending on when you view this, some of the information may be incomplete. For example, point spread and over-under info won’t be available until Monday, and I’m not sure yet who is announcing the Texas-Texas A&M game Thanksgiving night.

But bookmark this page and, like we did with last year’s Thanksgiving Day football TV schedule, we’ll get it all worked out for you a few days before Thanksgiving.

NFL Thanksgiving Day TV Schedule

Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions

• Packers-Lions Date: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26th
• Packers-Lions Kickoff Time: 12:30 PM
• Packers-Lions TV Network: FOX
• Packers-Lions Announcers: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
• Packers-Lions Point Spread: TBA
• Packers-Lions Over-Under: TBA
• Packers-Lions Spread Pick: TBA

Oakland Raiders at Dallas Cowboys

• Raiders-Cowboys Date: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26th
• Raiders-Cowboys Kickoff Time: 4:15 PM
• Raiders-Cowboys TV Network: CBS
• Raiders-Cowboys Announcers: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
• Raiders-Cowboys Point Spread: TBA
• Raiders-Cowboys Over-Under: TBA
• Raiders-Cowboys Spread Pick: TBA

New York Giants at Denver Broncos

• Giants-Broncos Date: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26th
• Giants-Broncos Kickoff Time: 8:20 PM
• Giants-Broncos TV Network: NFL Network
• Giants-Broncos Announcers: Bob Papa and Matt Millen
• Giants-Broncos Point Spread: TBA
• Giants-Broncos Over-Under: TBA
• Giants-Broncos Spread Pick: TBA

NCAA College Football Thanksgiving Day TV Schedule

Texas Longhorns at Texas A&M Aggies

• Texas-Texas A&M Date: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26th
• Texas-Texas A&M Kickoff Time: 8:00 PM
• Texas-Texas A&M TV Network: ESPN
• Texas-Texas A&M Announcers: TBA
• Texas-Texas A&M Point Spread: TBA…but it will be Texas by a lot.
• Texas-Texas A&M Over-Under: TBA
• Texas-Texas A&M Spread Pick: TBA

This is the only game that is actually on Thanksgiving, but there are plenty of intriguing matchups on Friday, including:

• Illinois at Cincinnati (not that Illinois really has a chance, but…)
• Alabama at Auburn
• Pittsburgh at West Virginia
• Nevada at Boise State

We will obviously have all of the information for those games when we post our Week 13 college football TV schedule on Saturday night or Sunday of this week.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving of food, family, and football everyone. I know I will.

**********

* – Lions fan ready for Thanksgiving photo credit: AP via MLive.com

***This post is for 2008. The 2009 Thanksgiving day football TV schedule has been posted.

Welcome back to MSF for the latest college football TV schedule, this time for Thanksgiving week.

For so many reasons, Thanksgiving weekend is one of the greatest weekends of the year. And one of the primary reasons is the plethora of football on television. (And if you want to know the NFL Thanksgiving Day schedule, hop on over to the NFL Thanksgiving Day TV Schedule.)

Like last weekend, there are plenty of big college football games to keep you entertained through Saturday, November 29:

– Oklahoma travels to Oklahoma State in the final HUGE regular season Big 12 game. So far, not true road team has one of the “Games of the Year” in the Big 12 yet; Texas beat Oklahoma in Dallas. If Oklahoma State can pull off the upset, the BCS could be thrown in chaos. Go Cowboys!

– Auburn travels to Alabama for the Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide is #1 and poised for their SEC title showdown against Florida. Can their rivals spoil the fun? Even better, can Auburn beat Alabama, and then Alabama beat Florida? And totally ruin the BCS!?!? Do it! Go Auburn!

– Florida and Florida State renew their annual rivalry. Hey, and Florida State is even in the top-20 this year!

– Ball State plays Western Michigan tonight, trying to complete an undefeated regular season.

– Oregon takes on Oregon State, where a Beavers win could allow them to supplant USC as the Pac-10 champs.

– And many, many more good and meaningful games. It’s amazing how good the college football TV schedule looks when there are no Big Ten games on there.

So let’s get to it. The Week 14 College Football TV Schedule for Thanksgiving weekend, through Saturday, November 29:

– Any games with ??? means there is no current TV listing. Check your local listings for the weekend of Saturday, November 29 if you need information about these games.

– The ABC games on Saturday, November 29 in the same time slot are regional. A lot of times, the game not on ABC is on one of the ESPN networks.

– A few games on ESPN Classic this Thanksgiving weekend. Isn’t that a little ridiculous? It used to be that teams strived to get on ESPN Classic by playing an amazing game. Now Navy-Northern Illinois and Bowling Green-Toledo, among others, are playing on ESPN. Kind of devalues the brand a little bit, no?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your weekend of food and football.

***This post is for 2008. The 2009 Thanksgiving day football TV schedule has been posted.

Thanksgiving Day is almost upon us, and that means a bevy of things: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, family two hand touch in the yard, bloated passing out on the couch, and of course, NFL football.

I was just checking the NFL schedule for Week 13 in preparation for writing this post and I received some outstanding news: there are three NFL games on Thanksgiving Day this year. I thought that there were only two. I did not think that there was any way that I could be more excited for Thanksgiving Day; now I know that there is. More football!

(And if you want even more football, check out the College Football TV Schedule for Thanksgiving Weekend.)

Anyway, let’s get down to business. A quick rundown of the Thanksgiving Day TV schedule, announcer pairings, and my meaningless predictions. The point spreads have not been posted as of me writing, at least anywhere I looked. I’ll update the post later this week once they are announced. (Update: Point spreads and over-under odds are updated.)

And I did not find the official announcer pairings listed anywhere either; however, I am making my best educated guess by listing the #1 team for each network. They usually handle the Thanksgiving Day games.

Here we go:

Tennessee Titans at Detroit Lions

• 12:30 ET on CBS
• Announcer Pairing: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
• Point Spread: Tennessee Titans -11
• Over-Under: 44
• Prediction: I am going out on a limb right now and saying that Detroit will get their first (and possibly only) victory on Thanksgiving Day. The Titans just lost to the Jets, and I have a feeling they could be slightly deflated after seeing their undefeated record go by the wayside. And the pretty much have the AFC South clinched, so I think a slight letdown is possible. I have seen numerous opinion pieces this week about how the Detroit Lions should lose their annual slot on Thanksgiving Day because of their franchise’s putridity. Tennessee is the MUCH better team, but I think that for this one day the pride of the Lions will be on display.

Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys

• 4:15 ET on FOX
• Announcer Pairing: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver
• Point Spread: Dallas Cowboys -13
• Over-Under: 47
• Prediction: Dallas is going to win this one in a rout. Tony Romo is back and getting into a rhythm, and it looks like the Cowboys figured out how to get T.O. involved in the offense again. The Cowboys are starting to get on a roll and their 2008 season could end up looking a lot like the 2007 season of the Giants — which ended in a Super Bowl run after they got hot near midseason despite struggling in the first half of the season. Seattle will play hard, and they do have Matt Hasselfavre back, but it won’t matter. Dallas will win by at least 20.

Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles

• 8:15 ET on NFL Network
• Announcer Pairing: Bob Papa and Chris Collinsworth
• Point Spread: Philadelphia Eagles -3
• Over-Under: 46 1/2
• Prediction: With the turmoil that Philadelphia current has going on, it is hard to pick the Eagles. And now that they are pretty much out of the playoff picture, I could see a letdown performance by the Eagles. And despite the Cardinals’ loss to the Giants today, this is a really good team. I love Kurt Warner, and I just don’t think that the Eagles are capable of scoring enough points to stay in this game. Somehow, I think the Eagles will keep it close through the second half, but the Cardinals will pull away late for the Thanksgiving Day victory.

All of us here at Midwest Sports Fans wish you and your family a hearty and happy Thanksgiving with your family, and a wonderful day of food and football. What could be better? That’s why Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday.

[tags]thanksgiving nfl, detroit lions, nfl tv schedule[/tags]