Any inside info on the start time for Minnesota?
October 7th, 2020 at 9:00 AM ^
Nope!
October 7th, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
Why would you want to delay the season past 12:00 noon?
October 7th, 2020 at 9:48 AM ^
Damn wiener kids and their Pee-wee football at noon that day!
October 7th, 2020 at 9:55 AM ^
Because I live in Korea :/ After the time change, noon games start at 2 a.m. for me. Been watching more Pac-12 football since I got here.
October 7th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
Same I hoped for when I was in Okinawa
October 7th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
Because it’s 6 am in Hawaii, and the last time I got up at 5:30 for a football game, it was last year’s Wisconsin game.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:02 AM ^
Tried contacting Counterstrike Guy and Sir Yacht. No response as of yet.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
I'm not sure whether I should be flattered that you think I possess information outside the scope of dope recruiting tidbits conveyed by recruits through a media platform most recently relevant in the late 90's and early 2000's or offended that you implied that the veracity of those tidbits are on par with those from Boaty McBoatface.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
Well whichever emotion you land on just know your response was fucking epic.
Nice job.
October 7th, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
It's always good to be appreciated. Cheers!
October 7th, 2020 at 9:04 AM ^
I saw something yesterday (but don't have the link) indicating that it would mostly likely be on Fox or FS1. Start time likely to be 3:30 or 4:00. Possible night game....but not likely. Fox had considerations regarding the MLB game that night. Also, I think that Nebraska vs OSU is scheduled for noon so that opens the door for Michigan to have the afternoon game.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^
Thanks for the info!
October 7th, 2020 at 9:15 AM ^
Just looking at the slate of games that day, and considering this is the opening weekend of Big Ten play and it is not too late in the season weather-wise (and is in a central time zone), my bet is they give us the night slot or at minimum late afternoon.
Also checks off the "make more money" and "screw Michigan" boxes that are often met.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
How does late afternoon or a night game in front of an empty crowd "screw Michigan"? The crowd is what seems to create a tangible difference between an 11 AM, 2:30/3:00 PM, and 7 PM Central start. I find your definition of late afternoon is odd to me considering how far west Minneapolis actually is.
I have argued on this blog for years that 3:30 PM is the best home start time because it actually allows students enough time to pregame properly and still make kickoff, but this year with no fans, it just does not matter.
In reality, we probably want whatever time frame the rain is going to be in to slow their passing game and obviously we do not know if or when it will rain at this point.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
Granted that this year the lack of crowd diminishes homefield advantage to some extent, there is still an advantage. One of which is the travel and the time difference (the "body clock" effect, as some call it). It does benefit Minn in this case (the most in a night game), although the degree of actual benefit may be marginal - especially this year.
I agree that a late afternoon kickoff is a better experience for the crowd (not only the students) - but that is not the point of discussion here.
October 7th, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
It’s barely rained for months in Minnesota, so we’re in no danger of that happening. My lawn looks like shit.
October 7th, 2020 at 8:42 PM ^
Same here in Indiana. I moved into a new suburb and everyone has sod and all of the sod is as brown as can be. I think it rained twice since March.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:29 AM ^
The Daily Gopher did some digging and it sounds like most likely a 3pm (CT) kick on Fox. OSU/Nebraska confirmed for the noon kick and World Series will most likely be on fox at night.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
The only issue I have with the Daily Gopher article is that it assumes the game will be on Fox. Even the calendar it cites features events that were on other networks (the NBA Finals, SEC football games). If the Michigan-Minnesota game is on ABC or ESPN, it could be on anytime in the afternoon or evening.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^
Outside of Indiana, last season was literally night game or noon game, hoping for some 3:30s in there myself
October 7th, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
I had originally circled this game as one of my two planned road trips this season, along with @Washington.
October 7th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Not exactly on topic but is there any sporting experience better than going to a road game, especially a big road game, and coming home a winner? Everything about the trip is fun (especially leaving their stadium with the other Michigan fans in triumph) and dinner that night, usually at a nice place, never tasted so good. And if you fly there seeing other Michigan fans in the airport, always wearing their gear, is just so cool. I'm reminded of the 97 Rose Bowl and the 2006 game against Notre Dame as my two personal highlights.
Conversely there's not much worse than going on the road to see a loss. All you want to do is get back home, you're kicking yourself for going and spending all that money and if you're wearing the M gear, having to deal with the snickers, comments and giggles from those around you. My two worst road game experiences like that were the 86 Rose Bowl and the 2012 Kick-Off Classic against Alabama. And for what it's worth I'll never forget being at the Dallas airport waiting for my flight home, wearing my Michigan gear, having to deal with everybody just looking at me with pity and one women saying "I'm sorry honey".
October 7th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
When I lived in Chicago taking the red and purple lines to Evanston was always awesome. I lived on the south side so I went through like 40 stops before getting there and it was cool to see the train car get progressively more and more loaded with Michigan fans. One of these the was M00N game (yes I attended the M00N game and lived to tell the tale) and the train ride back was hilarious.
October 7th, 2020 at 5:10 PM ^
I was there, too, and I loved M00N game!
Conversely, the 54-51 loss in 2000, while an exciting game, was crushing.
October 7th, 2020 at 6:25 PM ^
For the 2018 game in Evanston, did a bottomless boozy brunch in Chicago before taking the train up to go to the game. That was a very fun train ride.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
Leaving Notre Dame in 2006. YouTube was still new but I never forgot those vids...
October 7th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
I'M IN THAT VIDEO WITH MY BROTHER!!!!!!
I had never seen that one before. Thank you so much for posting that - brings back the same chills I had that day literally screaming "It's Great. To Be. A Michigan. Wol. Ver. Ine" about 1000 times in a row as we left the place.
BTW - pre and post game tailgate across the street we shared a parking spot with the parents of Rivas, Long & Henne. And all three showed up to spend a bit of time with their folks before heading home. That was the cherry on top of a very emotionally satisfying fandom sundae!
October 7th, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
Outside of some games at MSU that was the only away football game that I have ever been to. There was a Notre Dame fan who kept claiming that the refs were giving us every call and would keep the "real score" where Notre Dame was ahead.
I kept laughing at him. Before the end of the 3rd quarter he left.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
Probably my favorite road game experience was the Minnesota game in 2015. Obviously the game itself was intense, coming down to the goal line stand on the final play. The Michigan fans in attendance were awesome and walking through the area immediately outside the stadium was like one big Michigan party. IIRC there were fireworks which was a cool cherry on top to the game atmosphere. My brother and I stayed at a hotel just a five minute walk away so we were able to wander around the stadium area and take in all the fun. Ate at the BWW (yeah, not many food choices right there) nearby which was, again, a bunch of happy Wolverine fans and some sad, mopey Gophers. Spent a few extra days in the Twin Cities for that trip. Enjoyed myself immensely.
On the flip side, the 2016 Iowa game can go to hell. Iowa City is a great college town and every Hawkeye fan we encountered before the game was beyond friendly and truly excited that we'd driven all that way to watch in person. None of that came close to making up for the walk-off FG and then having to walk back into town through a tight maze of walkways and stairs amongst 65,000 never-been-happier Iowa fans. Ugh.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
I lament the fact that these personal highlights are games from 23 and 14 years ago.
What an awful run of road performances since.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
I seldom have had a bad road game experience, but that probably has something to do with the fact that, other than @Iowa, Michigan has a winning record vs everyone on the road in games I've attended including rivals OSU (1-0), Staee (1-0), ND (2-1), and Minnesota (2-0). The only road loss among those was when Mike Hart was a freshman and hadn't yet been fully weaponized.
October 7th, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^
This is spot on. My favorite road games were '93 Penn State (first ever meeting), '94 Notre Dame, and '97 Penn State. All were fantastic. My two worst were '96 Northwestern and '00 Purdue.
It is amazing how a road trip can be defined by a W or an L. For the '96 Northwestern game, up until the end we were having a fantastic time. The weather was beautiful, we had a pretty large group of friends that were all having a good time, etc. We had plans to go out on the town that night in Chicago....It was setting up to be a great day. Then the L happened. I went back to the hotel room and didn't leave until the next morning.
October 7th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
I was also at the '97 Penn St game, with a group of (~10) PSU fans/alums. What an absolutely awesome time! I will say that the PSU fans were initially very confidant in a win; then very grumbly; and finally very complimentary of Michigan's performance. They were also very pissed off that Nebraska was given a win by the ref's on that last second kicked ball.
October 7th, 2020 at 1:35 PM ^
After the game they kept feeding us beers in the parking lot and imploring us to beat OSU. We were a group of very loud UM fans sitting in the upper deck. The PSU fans around us were very annoyed during the game but by the end it was all good. I remember their running back that year was Curtis Enis. This young PSU fan in front of us had on a t-shirt that said "Enis Envy". I thought it was pretty funny!!!
October 7th, 2020 at 6:09 PM ^
October 7th, 2020 at 10:08 AM ^
I am still going. Just in case they decide to let in some fans at some point between now and 2.5 weeks from now
If not, I can tailgate at my buddies house all day and all night
October 7th, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
We (extended family) do one road game a year and the Twin Cities was our destination this year. We had hotel rooms reserved and a line on some tickets in the spring. This post just reinforces my “ To Hell with 2020 “ attitude. We could have tailgated robF (I owe you a few beers/ shots)!!
October 7th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
I would have loved to have tailgated with you and your family, ScannerBlue. Being on the Michigan Stadium front lines is great for some things but not for tailgating, so I can see why you strive to go on the road for a game each season.
October 7th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
Me too
October 7th, 2020 at 10:04 AM ^
I hope its not a night game. 1st game, on the road, ranked opponent, cold climate, and a night game is not Michigan's wheel house for winning.
Play it a noon and sink the boats!
October 7th, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^
While that all is true, I'm guessing no fans will change the atmosphere quite a bit.
October 7th, 2020 at 10:07 AM ^
Per my username, I actually live in Minnesota. I'm super bummed that I won't get to see this game this year. Originally scheduled for Mid-October, it would have been perfect football weather for a tailgate with any friends and family that made it into town.