No Night Game This Year
none of the lights none of the lights [Bryan Fuller]
Buried in a release about Michigan playing Minnesota at night is this:
With primetime selections through the networks and Big Ten Conference office now complete, Michigan will not host a night game this season at Michigan Stadium. Kickoff times for the remainder of the 2015 season will be announced in coordination with those partners.
Michigan's choices there were OSU (in November), Michigan State, or a middling opponent like Oregon State, BYU, or Northwestern. None of those are particularly appealing, though I thought a BYU at night might have been fun.
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I know everyone says MSU at night would be a disaster for the city, but how is it that so many other in-state rivals have night games without problems? Are MSU fans just that much more uncivilized than, say, Auburn fans?
MSU fans are freaks. That is all that needs to be said.
I just feel like everyone speaks about this in very general language, without explaining what the actual problem would be. When the game is at 3:30, there are still MSU fans in the city that night who have been drinking all day. What exactly is the problem that the night game brings?
Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.
They're ornery about the rivalry when sober. Drinking all day and into the evening creates only bad outcomes among that fanbase. MSU can deal with a nightgame in Happy Valley. No way in hell can they successfully navigate an AA UTL without acting like asshats. And yes, would be plenty of UM fans falling into this category, as well.
between Bama and Auburn yet they don't have a problem with night games. I've been to both games and Bama/Auburn fans hate each other way more than Michigan/MSU fans hate each other.
because Auburn and Alabama are on the same level academically and athletically. Hell they even poison each others trees down there.
However, this is MSU we are talking about. They are not a real rival to us but we are their main rival. So the rivalry comparison Bama/Auburn and M/MSU is not a good comparision in my opinion.
it would be fine and it will eventually happen.
There's a bigger cultural difference between UM/MSU than exists between Alabama/Auburn. Sure, exceptions and bad apples on both sides, but it's there.
and, frankly, ridiculous. Bitter rivals play in night games all the time without the world ending. I love to rip on Staee and their fans as much as anyone, but the notion that they will burn our city down if we play a night game is just Michigan ("big brother") arrogance in full force.
Maybe I'm ridiculous and arrogant, but I won't go to a game in EL because its not worth the abuse (at one end of the spectrum) or risk of injury (on the other). And I feel the same about a night game with MSU in AA.
Agreed. It's Michigan fans loving to talk about how [insert insult here] Michigan state fans are. Having said that, I don't live in AA, so all the damage they would cause would go largely unnoticed by me.
Dangit, I'm such a hypocrite!
FWIW, Hackett wanted MSU to be a night game but the administration shut it down.
the atmosphere is amazing and gives the home team a great advantage IMO. Having just one each year keeps it special, but zero night games just sucks.
I'm ok with this, given the unappealing options. Making it rarer enhances its value/appeal.
I disagree. Playing a game when it's dark is just playing a game at a different time than we're used to. The opponent does not need to be of higher quality to make it a night game.
If you're a season-ticketholder and have to drive a long distance to come to the games then yes, you absolutely want night games to be against a good opponent. Those fans have to decide to either get a hotel or drive for a long time in the middle of the night. For a big game you can shrug that off as a necessary hassle, but for a BYU/Oregon State caliber opponent, it's probably not worth it.
Bummer
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Can you tell me what the mayhem would be? I'm genuinely confused about this.
MSU in a 5:30 start, it was one of the worst fan experiences at Michigan Stadium I can ever remember. Michigan/Michigan State is not a fun rivalry, add 8 hours of alcohol consumption and its a tinder box waiting for a fire. Pretty sure we set a high for fan arrests that day and medical emergencies (most drunk).
We play them at 3:30 all the time. Is it really that different? People are going to be drunk at the game.
Not to mention, other schools seem to have no problem playing major rivals at night.
3:30 and 7:30 is a monumental difference. Considering most tailgates would start at the same time (11ish) for either of those start times, one has 4 more hours of drinking. If you don't think there'd be an increase in drunkeness (both in quantity and degree) than you are kidding yourself.
Just from a risk perspective, the longer that the tailgates go, the more likely some idiot will get hurt and shut the tailgate down, thus leading to fines and citations for our tailgate house
You guys could try to pace yourselves, or not get obliterated.
April 24th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
You ain't old enough to remember when all the games were played at noon and most of them you could only hear on the radio. Stop acting like you're some old school Ufer clone. Noon games are hot garbage.
Brigham Young would have made for a great night game. They are probably going to be better than Penn State last year. I don't get why this was not eagerly embraced.
There is a competitive advantage to making a west coast(ish) team play a Noon EST game, while a night game puts them closer to their norm.
Tiny issue, but every inch...
I hope OSU, UNLV, BYU are all at noon.
Finally someone else sees this angle.
Also, BYU will be taking an entire week off before our game. Utah did the same thing last year.
They have no shame in doing that - lets schedule them at noon...
All three west coast games SHOULD be at noon.
Noon start should just be a given for west coast teams coming to Ann Arbor. BYU at night would not have moved the needle much. MSU at night would be mayhem. Let them destroy Cedar Village and leave Ann Arbor to the civilized!
I don't think we get to decide whether a game is at on noon vs. 3:30. I'm pretty sure the TV networks do that. We just have control over whether a game is during the day vs. at night.
April 24th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^
BYU plays a ton of night games already, and IMO, are a much more energetic team at night.
BYU opens at Nebraska, home v Boise State, and then at UCLA. They will likely be underdogs in all of those games and could be heading to Ann Arbor at 0-3. No one wants to watch a borderline top 25 team play an 0-3/1-2 team in primetime.
Next year we should have a top 5 defense or something close to it. We had the 7th best defense last year (total defense) and we have Peppers coming back from injury and wayne lyons transferring in along with our other top secondary guys coming back. They should be scary good. We lost JMFR but we are getting a three year starter in Desmond Morgan back which should offset that quite a bit. We lost Frank Clark but we have some guys with potential vying to replace him that is really our only question mark on defense but overall I think that unit will definitely be a top 10 defense. On offense is where we have some question marks but our Oline was starting to come along pretty good at the end so if we can put a serviceable running back and qb behind them I think they can be mediocore enough for us to finish around the 2-4 loss mark and either be ranked or close to it thanks to our defense
April 23rd, 2015 at 11:00 PM ^
Considering they'll start the season unranked, if Michigan wins their first three games, they *might* sneak into the top 25. Or they might be just outside of it. So, you know...borderline top 25.
*sigh* At least Harbaugh.
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Know what else impresses recruits and showcases your program? Winning. Night games are tricks you use to impress recruits when your program is a dumpster fire.
C'mon man...Purdue and BC rarely host a prime time game where they are the marquee team in the game. Sure, Purdue played a prime time night game last season, but that was only because they were hosting #11 Notre Dame. And BC did it because they were hosting #9 USC. They are on prime time because they just so happen to be hosting a top 10'ish team.
If Michigan looked like they were going to be a top-10'ish team by week 4, then sure, the odds of the BYU game being a prime time night game go way up. But the reality is, they will probably be a borderline top 25 team that's playing a team whose season is already over.
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