How to watch the ASU vs. NAU football game on TV tonight — and why you should

How to watch the Arizona State-Northern Arizona football game on Thursday night?

The how is easy — 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.

The why is a little more difficult to answer. It’s not exactly a battle of the titans.

And come to think of it, even the how is a little tricky if you have DirecTV or use YouTube TV or AT&T TV or some other services. The PAC-12 Network’s approach to distribution has always been, shall we say, curious. It’s as if it treats itself as a rare cheese, available only to the most discriminating consumer. And then once you find it, it often stinks.

Which is to say the network is not available on those and some other services. But if you have Cox, DISH Network, fuboTV, Sling TV or Vidgo, among other providers, you can tune right in.

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So, if it's available to you, what will you be watching?

Northern Arizona, a plucky FCS program, taking on Arizona State, an FBS school whose hopes for the season, if you look at predictions, would appear to be middling at best.

Like, really at best; some experts have picked the Sun Devils to finish last in the PAC-12; most predict they will be somewhere near the bottom.

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ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels was fun to watch. He probably still is — but he transferred to Louisiana State University, where he will ply his trade. It’s just impossible to know what to expect, other than, if the experts are indeed correct, a certain level of mediocrity.

But there are reasons to watch.

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Why should you bother watching?

The big one is simple: it’s football. And we have been without it lo these many months.

It’s also fun to pretend that the beginning of football season means the end of earth-scorching summer, but alas, we know this isn’t the case in Arizona.

Still. It’s football. And that’s something. No one said it had to be good football.

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There’s also the possibility of an upset — last season NAU beat the University of Arizona. Rooting for the underdog has been fun since the crowd cheered David while he loaded his slingshot and took on Goliath. OK, I’m projecting a little there, but you get the gist.

Then there is the broadcast team: Roxy Bernstein and Lincoln Kennedy. Kennedy is all over the place (he’s also the analyst for Las Vegas Raiders radio broadcasts). I’m not pretending that people tune in to listen to the announcers, though I suppose maybe a small segment of weirdos like me do. But you could certainly do worse for a broadcast team.

With USC and UCLA departing, we are watching the end of the Pac-12

But there’s also another reason — we may well be watching, over the next couple of seasons, the sad decline of a once-great athletic conference.

USC and UCLA have already taken the money and run, or soon will, to the Big Ten Conference. (They’re scheduled to begin play in the 2024 season.)

Probably ASU would make a similar move if someone offered it. At the moment, that’s apparently a pretty big if, though who knows what's in the works behind the scenes. They’re the sad crowd on the sidelines at the prom, watching everyone else dance.

In the grand tradition of watching a car race to see the wrecks, watching the dismantling of the Pac-12 on its own network is some kind of strange, and yet oddly compelling. No one roots for disaster, but when it happens right in front of you it’s hard to look away.

The short version of all this is that college football, sooner than later, is going to be a vastly different sport. ASU may not remain on the outside looking in at the big conferences as the rich get richer and everyone else lines up for scraps. But at the moment they’re still in the mix in the Pac. So maybe that’s the best reason to watch: enjoy it while you can.

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Northern Arizona University at Arizona State University

7 p.m. Thursday on the Pac-12 Network

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU vs. NAU: How to watch the college football game live on TV tonight