Could America’s Team be flexed out of some of the NFL’s biggest broadcast windows? 

We’ll soon begin to find out as the Cowboys’ 2024 season continues to unravel from one starting with Super Bowl aspirations to potentially their worst campaign in nearly a decade. 

Dallas was trounced at home Sunday by the Eagles 34–6, extending a winless season thus far at home for the Cowboys and dropping their overall record to 3–6.

After three straight 12-win, playoff seasons, the team is also battling a string of serious injuries to star players such as quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver Brandin Cooks, and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. And its best defensive player—pass rusher Micah Parsons—had missed the previous four games with a high ankle sprain.

Still, Dallas has lost four straight, and its next three games are locked in: a Monday Night Football matchup on Nov. 18 against the Texans and a Thanksgiving Day game on Nov. 28 against the Giants, currently 2–8. That late-afternoon Thanksgiving game is traditionally the most-watched contest of every NFL regular season, but that status could be threatened this year as 2025 draft positions will likely be most at stake there instead. In between those games is an early-afternoon matchup against the Commanders on Nov. 24. 

After that, three of the Cowboys’ final five games are currently in key broadcast windows: a Dec. 9 MNF game against the Bengals, a Dec. 22 Sunday Night Football game against the Buccaneers, and a Dec. 29 national America’s Game of the Week slot at 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox against the Eagles. All three of those games conceivably stand at risk for movement by the NFL in the league’s flex scheduling rules—particularly given that Cincinnati and Tampa Bay also have losing records, and Philadelphia could have a postseason slot locked up by then. 

That SNF game, as well as the Week 17 Eagles game, could be shifted with at least six days’ notice while moving the MNF matchup requires a minimum of 12 days’ notice.  

The thought of the Cowboys not being in the leading broadcast windows is a major turn after the team has traditionally held bragging rights as the NFL’s top television draw. That status, however, now lies with the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, who are still undefeated after a last-second blocked field goal Sunday against the Broncos. 

The Cowboys, one of the NFL’s most popular teams for more than 50 years, are currently on pace for their worst season since 2015, when they finished 4–12. Still, there is some hope within the league of a late-season revival.

“They’re obviously having their troubles, but we haven’t given up on them,” an NFL source said.

More Troubles

The on-field and television issues, however, are hardly the only drama surrounding the Cowboys. In that loss to the Eagles on Sunday, receiver CeeDee Lamb dropped a potential touchdown pass due to sun glare coming into AT&T Stadium. 

Lamb called for curtains to be installed, but team owner Jerry Jones instead lashed out at reporters after the Eagles game, sarcastically responding, “Well, let’s tear the damn stadium down and build another one. Are you kidding me?”

Such sun-related issues have cropped up occasionally in the facility’s 15-year tenure to date, also leading Jones to say, “Everybody has got the same thing. Every team that comes in here has the same issues.”

SMU paid its way into the ACC—to the tune of nine figures—and its big-money move is already paying off in Year 1.

The Mustangs (8–1), slotted No. 13 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, are coming out of a bye week with three games remaining against unranked opponents, and a chance to put the once-blacklisted program in its biggest national spotlight in decades.

With their only loss coming to non-conference opponent BYU, SMU is now the last undefeated team in ACC play, following Miami’s 28–23 loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 4 in the CFP rankings.

Tuesday night’s next CFP rankings will reveal whether SMU has moved up in the standings, but it’s all about the finish: The ultimate ACC champion will be in line to automatically qualify for the CFP and receive a first-round bye under the new 12-team format.

SMU claimed two disputed national championships in 1981 and 1982, and it was hit with NCAA violations later that decade. Then, in 1987, SMU became the first and only college football program to receive the “death penalty” from the NCAA after it was found to be paying players. That resulted in the program canceling two football seasons. SMU didn’t make another bowl game until 2009, and it hasn’t yet played in the CFP or a New Year’s Six bowl game, either.

Time to Shine

In June, SMU’s athletic department announced it reached a new fundraising record of $159 million during the 2023–2024 fiscal year. Most of those funds were secured during the week following the Sept. 1, 2023, announcement that the school would leave the American Athletic Conference and move to the ACC. 

That came after influential SMU donor David Miller was able to get $200 million in donation commitments from the school’s richest boosters last summer. SMU agreed to forgo a share of media-rights revenue to join the ACC, but the conference was initially concerned the Mustangs wouldn’t be able to compete without solid funding.

SMU coach Rhett Lashlee received a contract extension ahead of the ACC move, but because the school is private, his salary is not publicly available. 

This season, SMU opened the Garry Weber End Zone Complex at the football team’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium. The 192,500-square-foot facility, which came with a $100 million price tag, includes a football center, human performance level, and hospitality level.