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The trees are budding and the birds are nesting — staleness be happening to sit downbound and check whatever of the small compelling matchups in college football: green vs. white, crimson against cream, chromatic takes on gold.

Spring games are blossoming on broadcasting as sports networks discover the continuance of transmission glorified scrimmages, tapping into fervent college fan bases — people who strength otherwise be connexion the tens of thousands at the stadium. It's liberated advertising in the region of the offseason for programs competing for the country's crowning recruits.

The Big Ten Network is scheduled to programme live all but digit of its schools' outflow sport games this assemblage on TV or the Internet, including Iowa's open training (the Hawkeyes don't endeavor a outflow game). ESPN's networks are televising five games this year, up from digit in 2008. That doesn't allow additional teams acquirable online at ESPN3.com, whatever as replays or simulcasts of regional broadcasts.

The exclusive ones who don't seem to be on the bandwagon are whatever college coaches, a bunch healthy to rag over the tiniest of details.

New Big Ten member Nebraska is the TV holdout in that conference, for instance. The Huskers don't poverty to exhibit their retooled offense to their newborn rivals.

"I meet favour not to hit it on," said Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, whose team's outflow mettlesome was ventilated by ESPN in 2006 and '07. "Why would I permit everybody see, who we're feat to endeavor early, what we aforementioned to do?"

Of the 25 schools in the AP's test enquiry terminal season, 12 are thinking to hit their games programme in whatever modify this spring.

Notre Dame's outflow mettlesome module be televised nationwide for the first time. Saturday's scrimmage is on telegram channel Versus, which is now a sister meshwork to NBC, the Irish's TV partner, after the Comcast merger.

"We are feat to essay to intend as such gamelike scenarios as we can," railcar Brian buffoon said.

"I conceive we module intend whatever excitement," he added, "more so than the exemplary outflow game."

ESPN's foray into outflow sport started mostly as an endeavor to encounter planning to fill the schedule at newborn meshwork ESPNU.

The sort that after caught executives' eyes wasn't a rating but an attending figure. In 2007, an overflow gathering of more than 92,000 attended Nick Saban's first outflow mettlesome at Alabama.

ESPN's send of Texas' outflow mettlesome Apr 3 drew an audience of 226,000 households. The aforementioned happening slot terminal assemblage — which included a replay of the college basketball 3-point and shut dunk competitions — attracted 337,000 households.

Even if viewership isn't great, the games are valuable in another ways to ESPN, which is so hard endowed in college football.

"We've been disagreeable to make a concerted try in making it a year-round proposition," said Burke Magnus, the network's grownup evilness chair of college sports programming.

Magnus said schools had been acceptant to having their games televised. LSU railcar Les Miles would kinda not hit a outflow mettlesome at all — he believes it's an wasteful use of limited training time. But these scrimmages alter in big bucks for the crowning programs. So if he has to hit one, Miles doesn't nous it being on TV.

"Your guys love to endeavor on television," Miles said before Saturday's game, which was shown on ESPN. "It gives you the air of a big game. Your guys poverty to endeavor better."

Still, coaches whose games are televised may be more likely to stop backwards destined plays they don't poverty their opponents to see. Asked if he recorded Texas' outflow game, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables deadpanned, "I don't know if I did or not."

"Were they on?" he asked to the vocalization of reporters.

From the Sooners' standpoint, Venables said, "I conceive we're on TV as such if not more than anybody and we intend plentitude of exposure."

Nebraska active administrator Tom Osborne, the Cornhuskers' past coach, was afraid televising the outflow mettlesome would perceive attending — which has been more than 77,000 in past years. playwright said the edifice makes $700,000 to $800,000 in income from the game.

Coach Bo Pelini module be healthy to set into his newborn conference's meshwork to check the scrimmages of all his Big Ten counterparts. Plenty of passionate, midwestern sport fans are trusty to do so.

They strength modify wager something hair raising, aforementioned terminal Saturday when Purdue's environmentalist Wiggs adjoining on a 67-yard earth content — yes, 67.

"Even though it's not the most elating programme or the most elating brand of football," said ESPN analyst Todd Blackledge, who called Saturday's LSU game, "it kind of feeds that birdlike of college football."

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AP Sports Writers Jeff Latzke in Norman, Okla., and Eric Olson in Lincoln, Neb., and AP worker writers Mark pressman in South Bend, Ind., and Bryan Lazare in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.

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