We own the night! First football game time announced

by BoilerTMill on Apr 15, 2009 1:23 PM EDT in Football

I just received a press release from the Big Ten officially announcing hte game times of 14 Big Ten games that will be featured in prime time. While most of the games don't involved the Boilers, there is one huge difference.

The September 26th game against Notre Dame at Ross-Ade Stadium will be a night game, as it will kick off at 8pm on ABC or ESPN.

Historically, this does not bode well for us. The only two times that Notre Dame has won at Ross-Ade since 1995 came in night games. A september 11th delayed game in 2001 started at 4pm on December 1st and an awful Irish team beat us 24-18. Then there was the infamous 2005 game. Charlie Weis and the Irish absolutely pantsed us in a 49-28 walloping that wasn't even as close as the score indicated. That was one of the most embarassing Purdue efforts I have ever seen and I remember being so pissed that I left at halftime. That game started at 6pm, so it was such a letdown after a full day of tailgating.

Our effort the last time the Irish played at Purdue in prime time could easily be described as "craptacular".

As far as other prime time games go, the schedule shows a big need for permanent lights at Ross-Ade. Indiana, yes, 3-9 Indiana that thinks they are better team by moving their best player to a less effective position, gets three night games because of permanent lights. They open the season against Hope-less Eastern Kentucky at 8pm on Thursday September 3rd (Big Ten Network). They also get a 7pm kickoff against Ohio State on October 3rd (BTN) and the same time at home against Illinois on October 17th (BTN).

The next game I expect to get announced is our September 12th game at Oregon, which will surely be at least a 3:30 one. USC at Ohio State will be at 8pm on ABC that day. The final game of note is the Air Force at Minnesota game on the same day. TCF Bank Stadium will debut in prime time at 7pm on the Big Ten Network that day.

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A note on the Oregon game....

At this point in time, Oregon has a contract in place with ESPN/ABC to broadcast either the Utah or Purdue games. From what I’ve heard, it’s an either/or at this point, though it’s most likely possible they could pick up both. At least one of those games will be getting, at the minimum, regional coverage.

My guess at this point is that Purdue/Oregon will get picked up for regional broadcast (at least) on ABC for 12:30 PST. There really aren’t any other Pac-10 games that will be better, so that’ll likely be shown on the West Coast. That would most likely get picked up through at least parts of the Midwest, though there are a few other interesting games that weekend that would compete for airtime.

--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog

by jtlight on Apr 15, 2009 1:51 PM EDT reply actions

NDSUX

Night games in the Big Ten suck for the most part, not to mention our record in night games is terrible from my recent memories. It’s usually cold and windy i.e. conditions for “The Fumble” game. Night games are just one step away from the laughable weeknight games. Leave those to the Ball States, Marshalls, and UCFs of the NCAA.

by Scotty Leisure on Apr 15, 2009 8:28 PM EDT reply actions