Scheduling idea for OSU football
OSU football is contemplating moving its Oct. 4 home game against Texas A&M to a Thursday night, Oct. 2, for ESPN. Personally, I hope the Cowboys do it, because that means I could get to both games that week, OSU-A&M and OU-Baylor. Not that I’m in any hurry to see Baylor, but I like to see both teams as often as possible. That’s what was cool about 2007: OSU played Troy on a Friday night, and I made it back to Norman to see the OU-Utah State classic; then OU played Tulsa on a Friday night, so I also could go over to Stillwater for the OSU-Texas Tech thriller.
Much more important is this question: Should the Cowboys move the game? I can go either way. Whatever Mike Gundy decides is best, I have no problem with it.
A Thursday night game against a foe like A&M is great exposure for the Cowboys and the Big 12. Thursday night games are the college equivalent of Monday Night Football. Everyone in America who cares about college football watches. The game would be in Stillwater, with the stadium complete, and lots of positive talk about all the good things going on at O-State. That’s a winning move.
But it’s not great for fans. Saturday college football is an all-day experience for many fans. Strolling campus. Tailgating. Meeting old friends. Eating at the Hideaway. Be it a 2 p.m. or a 6 p.m. kickoff, game day in Stillwater (and most every other major college) is an event itself. That would be dramatically changed for Thursday night. The game atmosphere would be the same and maybe better, but fans would not be coming into Stillwater all day long. There would be mad dashes from OKC and Tulsa in the afternoon. It would be in and out of town quickly for thousands and thousands of fans. Merchants would not be pleased.
On the other hand, it’s probably a great thing for students. OSU has a big portion of students who do not live close to Stillwater. Those students have a tough choice on home games; go home for the weekend or stay on campus for football. A Thursday game would let students do both and would create quite a buzz on campus that day.
From a competitive standpoint, athletic director Mike Holder was absolutely correct when he said he wanted to make sure A&M didn’t have an open date on Sept. 27, the Saturday before the OSU-Aggie game. OSU is scheduled to host Troy; A&M is scheduled to host Army. So long as both are playing, then it’s a level playing field.
But while we’re on this subject, here’s another idea for OSU, and this is a good one. Why not approach ESPN about moving the OSU-Baylor game to Fridaynight, Oct. 17, and televising the game from Boone Pickens Stadium? I know, all schools in the Friday Night Lights culture of high school football are loathe to play on Friday night. OSU and OU both did it reluctantly for road games last season but never have tried it for home games and probably wouldn’t consider it.
But they should in this case. Oct. 17 is during the state fall break. More than 90 percent of the high school games that week are played on Thursday night. Friday night is virtually dark for high school football in Oklahoma. A game in Stillwater on that Friday night would not conflict with many high school games at all. OSU-Baylor is not a marquee matchup; Baylor-anybody is not a marquee matchup. ESPN wouldn’t consider it for a Saturday telecast. But Friday night? ESPN’s Friday night series is not strong. Conference USA, the Sun Belt, the Mid-American Conference. Those kinds of games. A chance to show a Big 12 game, especially what figures to be a high-scoring game (at least on OSU’s end), would appeal to ESPN. It would give OSU great exposure again, would not conflict with high school football and could be promoted as a kickoff event for a campus weekend.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
I think that the idea is good, but don’t think that it would happen. Baylor, is homecoming for OSU. Don’t think that they would move a game that is supposed to be homecoming to accomodate a tv schedule. However, if it wasn’t, it would be great exposure for the program.
Yeah, you can’t move homecoming. Moving Baylor to a Friday night, especially if it was on a week when it wouldn’t interview with high school football would be good normally, but OSU makes a big deal out of homecoming and you just couldn’t do all of it on a Friday. Too many fans would have to work.
i would love to see the game on thursday night as well, as long as Jenni is not invited to the game at all.