College Football on USA refers to theUSA Network'scable television coverage of thecollege football regular season. USA's coverage ran from 1980 to 1986.
USA Network began airing college football in1980. From 1980 to1982), USA would broadcast several games per week. These games were sourced from regional and national syndicators likeRaycom,Mizlou, and Katz. These broadcasts were shown on atape delayed basis as much as two days later. For USA's final four seasons (1983-1986), they narrowed their coverage to only one game a week. Initially, the games were selected from virtually every conference. However, in the later years, USA would frequently (but not exclusively) air games involvingPittsburgh,Penn State,Notre Dame,Boston CollegeMaryland and theBig Eight Conference.[1] During this time, USA Network broadcast several bowl games, including: the1981 Liberty Bowl, 1985Cherry Bowl,1985 Holiday Bowl,1985 Freedom Bowl,1985 Independence Bowl,1985 Bluebonnet Bowl,1986 Independence Bowl,1986 Peach Bowl.
Since 2011, at least two Notre Dame Football games on NBC per-season are played inprimetime. These games are often played at neutral venues for the purposes of recruiting and financial benefits for playing at those sites, a high-profile matchup involving a major opponent, or to schedule around conflicts with other NBC Sports or NBC News programming. On occasion, selected games may be shifted to anNBCUniversal-owned cable channel, such asNBCSN orUSA Network, or the streaming servicePeacock.
Notre Dame's September 19, 2020, game againstSouth Florida was shifted toUSA Network due to conflicts with the2020 U.S. Open on NBC, and co-produced with the school's in-house production armFighting Irish Media due to NBC's main production unit already being used for the tournament.[2]
Notre Dame's double-overtime win againstClemson on November 7, 2020, was moved temporarily toUSA Network due to coverage ofJoe Biden's acceptance speech after being declared consensus winner of the2020 presidential election.[3]
USA Network, now under the sports division ofVersant (USA Sports), announced an agreement with thePac-12 Conference in November 2025. Beginning with the 2026 season, USA Network will broadcast 22 college football games per season.[4]