Iowa State Football: Game at Tulsa Moved to Thursday, September 26

Dec 31, 2012; Memphis, TN, USA; Iowa State Cyclones wide receiver Aaron Horne (3) carries the ball up the field against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Liberty Bowl at Liberty Bowl Stadium. Tulsa won 31-17. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Fans that enjoy taking a day off from work for a football tailgate will be in luck at least once next season. The rubber match against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes has officially been moved two days back from its original Saturday slot in September for a national TV opportunity.

Cyclones.com reported the switch today for ISU fans, with kickoff time and TV arrangements to be made later. Since this is a road game and all TV arrangements fall under Conference USA, it was first reported yesterday that the TV partners requested Tulsa to move this game and their game against Marshall to Thursday. FOX Sports and CBS Sports hold the rights to air Conference USA regular season football games.

All the potential networks for the game to air are FX, regional FSNs, and CBS Sports Network. Since FX generally airs original programming on Thursday nights, it’s likely going to be FSN or CBS Sports Network.

FOX is first in line to pick the top 10 Conference USA games during the season. Since Iowa State is a part of the BCS conferences and has a loyal fanbase that would generate a lot of TV revenue, it’s likely FOX will pick it up and put it on their regional package for a primetime game.

Other potential weekday games are the Big 12 opener against Texas the following Thursday and the season finale at West Virginia on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook.