From theOzone.net in Columbus: Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer pressed for more night games. The message was well-received from university brass and TV networks with the Buckeyes scheduled to play three night games this season, including two at home for the first time. Ohio State will host Wisconsin under the lights in Ohio Stadium on Sept. 28 and Penn State on Oct. 26. The lone night game away from Columbus will take place Oct. 5 at Northwestern. The Wisconsin game is a big one as it will take place after Eat Too, Brutus IV, Eleven Warriors' annual charity tailgate. In a conversation with Eleven Warriors last week, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith made his intentions clear that he wants the Buckeyes to play more night games at home than on the road. "My concern now is we’re always playing two on the road and one at home, which means our guys get home at 3 in the morning twice a year," Smith said. "That’s not just a competitive disadvantage but also a student-athlete welfare issue. So we need to have two at home and one on the road as opposed to suffering the other side of that. "That was my impetus, Urban’s was recruiting. I agree with that. Our effort is to have a couple night games at home and one on the road, unless we change our television contract. We might look at November night games. But right now I’m very comfortable with having two at home and one on the road." The atmosphere at the Shoe under the lights is legendary, stemming back to the first night game in Ohio Stadium, a 10-7 win over Pitt in 1985. The Buckeyes have played a total of 12 night games in Ohio Stadium, winning nine. Five of the top 10 largest crowds, including the top two (Nebraska, 2012, which also featured the greatest TBDBITL show of all time; USC, 2008), were on hand for night games.
Irish are playing trending towards more night games as well. As a fan I prefer Sept games be at night due to the heat, esp in Texas but South Bend can be pretty toasty in Sept as well. My only real dislike for night games though is that you end up in traffic so late and later in the season it's colder at night. Noon starts are tough on tailgating, but when the game is over you can do stuff on campus and let the traffic dissipate. I like the 3:30 games the best from a tailgating perspective.
Hate noon starts always....HOT HOT and no time to tailgate after driving up from Tampa. 8 pm starts are brutally exhausting with the 2.5 hour drive back to Tampa. The very best for me is the 4 pm start.... my seats are shaded at halftime.
If I could choose, I'd take starts between 1:30 and 2:30. Time to tailgate and time to let the traffic clear before heading to dinner. I suppose that NBC likes the 3:30 slot because it picks up viewers finishing the noon games and gets a start on the 4 games.
I'm with gipper on the the start times that I would choose. Another reason for a guy like me who does not stay overnight is that I would get an earlier start on the 3+ hour drive home. Also like gip, I understand why NBC prefers the 3:30 start time.
I do like the atmosphere at night games. Both Ohio State/Texas games were at night and both very exciting atmosphere. It does make for a long day though. How many night games do the Gators play every year? I always think of SEC teams playing at night a lot more than Midwestern/Northern Teams. Michigan had it's first night game ever 2 years ago vs Notre Dame, and they will play Notre Dame again at Night this year. It seemed like we played a lot of night games last year. Mich State, Miami, Boston College, OU, and USC were all night games. I remember one of the cornerstones of the ND/NBC contract was early afternoon game starts, no night games. Reasons given were mainly convenience and safety of the fans traveling to home like Sid. ps...sorry about the thread hijak Don!
UF usually plays one or more likely two night games at home plus another couple on the road. LSU...Bama.....Georgia....FSU....Tenn are all frequent night games whether on the road or at home. In some years Auburn and MSU get into the night games plus SouCar as well.
Lets face the facts! TV (ESPN) controls who play whom and what time! Fans have no input in this decision!