What happened to noon games?
Should we blame it on Dave Brandon?
I personally love noon games (especially against teams from the central time zone, or west). I do wonder if Dave Brandon had any influence in this (likely if he desired to leverage game start times he could have).
Under Brady Hoke, we are 11-3 in games starting at noon. In 2011 both our losses came during games starting at 3:30 or later, and we tallied 6 wins. In 2012 we did not lose a noon kick-off, going 3-0. In 2013, the lone outlier during the Hoke era, we went 1-2, with one loss @Iowa (ugh, that game) and against OSU the next week. This year we are 1-0 at noon (AppState).
I skipped over the RR years to look back into the later half of the Carr era. In 2007, the Horror, @WIS, and OSU all started at noon. In 2006 we were undefeated in games that started at or before 12:30. In the six years before that, we only lost 4 times in, well, I'm sure I could go on.
I understand the reasons behind late games (the added dollars spent in the community are hard to argue with), but it seems we should be playing earlier more often.
Thoughts?
November 11th, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
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November 11th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
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November 11th, 2014 at 9:06 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 9:09 AM ^
In 2011 and 12, he did okay. The last two years he did not
November 11th, 2014 at 9:08 AM ^
Well, I certainly don't think switching all our games to noon makes us undefeated. Football players are people, and they have nerves. I always thought the sooner I could get out there, the better I would do.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:09 AM ^
Oh wait....shouldn't we have more noon games then?
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November 11th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
That's when we know the suck is permanent.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
Kick off is at noon. You don't like it? Pound fieldturf.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
Quite simple probably... Michigan pulls in more viewers at 3:30 than it does at 12:00 lol. Traditions be damned in the presence of the all mighty dollar.
I think it also has to do with the fact that since the B1G blows, there are only a few teams that pull in the masses to watch attentively. Michigan is one of them, so why not amplify the money gained by putting Michigan games on a better time slot?
November 11th, 2014 at 9:19 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 9:25 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 9:21 AM ^
I glanced at this and thought for sure it said "What happened to M00N games?"
I was like...where you been, man?
November 11th, 2014 at 9:33 AM ^
In 2008, when the Big Ten had 11 teams and 5 conference games a week, the typical November timeslots were: noon/ESPN, noon/ESPN2, noon/BTN, noon/BTN and 3:30/ABC.
In 2011, when the Big Ten had 12 teams and 6 conference games a week, the typical November timeslots were: noon/ESPN, noon/ESPN2, noon/BTN, noon/BTN, 3:30/ABC and 3:30/BTN. So the added timeslot was at 3:30.
In 2014, with 14 teams and up to 7 conference games a week, the typical November timeslots seem to be: noon/ESPN2, noon/ESPNU, noon/BTN, noon/BTN, 3:30/ABC, 3:30/BTN and 8:00/ABC or BTN. So the added timeslot is at night (November 1, November 8 and November 15 all have 8:00 games).
In 2008, about 80 percent of conference games were at noon. But the timeslot was pretty much full, so any added games had to be later in the day. By 2011, it was down to 67 percent. Now it's only about 58 percent.
So the answer to the question of what happened to noon games is simple: expansion of the conference is what happened. We still have 4 noon games a week, it's just that there are so many more games now than there used to be.
November 11th, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
So you are saying that there are less noon games to go around. And I do understand that. However, if 58% of B1G games are at noon, why is it that we have not played one noon game in 6 matches?
And the answer to that is ratings, viewership, etc. But it seems like Michigan should have at least some influence somewhere to say "hey, we want to play at Noon, and you guys aren't giving us any opportunities to."
November 11th, 2014 at 9:51 AM ^
Let's look at the home games so far:
August 30, Appalachian State (noon, ESPN2): this seems to have been the second most attractive B1G game of the day, so ABC passed and ESPN jumped on it. Easy pick for that ESPN time slot at noon.
September 13, Miami NTM (3:30, BTN): Obviously not a candidate for ABC or ESPN, but there were 2 BTN games of some attractiveness that day--WVU-Maryland and this one. BTN actually likes its better games to be at noon, when they can draw viewers. The dregs of the BTN get 3:30, and this was kind of it.
September 20, Utah (3:30, ABC): Clearly the most interesting game of the day, so ABC took it for their time slot.
September 27, Minnesota (3:30, ABC): A large number of terrible games for ABC to choose from, so they picked this. Could have gone with Northwestern at Penn State, but that's about it.
October 11, Penn State (7:00, ESPN2): Michigan wanted this at night, and ESPN2 was willing to pick it up.
November 1, Indiana (3:30, BTN): Homecoming, so Michigan could pick their time slot. Michigan chose 3:30, and ABC/ESPN were unwilling to pick this up, so it was relegated to the BTN.
There were 2 games where Michigan got to choose the time slot (Penn State and Indiana), and Michigan picked night and 3:30 for them. The rest of them, they were at the mercy of the networks. So no noon games after the first one. Michigan could have made the Indiana game a noon game, but they didn't. So obviously Michigan feels the same way about noon games as a majority (but not, I think, a huge majority) of the fans.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
I think it still will be a noon game in Columbus.
November 11th, 2014 at 10:03 AM ^
are too early for those of us who may have been enjoying the previous evening.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
Noon games are fucking terrible and I don't know why so many people cling to them.
"Thoughts?"
November 11th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
Noon games are for irrelevant teams playing other irrelevant teams up until the end of the season. You want more noon games, then hope Michigan becomes completely irrelevant over the next few years.
I'll be hoping for more night and 3:30 games myself.
November 11th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^
The only times I want Michigan to play at noon are when they travel to Columbus and East Lansing. I, too, welcome more 3:30 and later starts.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
Hoke = Noon.
Also, Hoke = Moon.
November 11th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
We have a better noon game record because the noon games tend to be against "lesser" opponents. Better games tend to get put at better time slots.
I personally hate noon games. I really would rather not have to get up early on a Saturday and have to start cooking and getting ready and most tailgating food is better after breakfast time.
Let the "meh" teams (yeah, I know) have the noon games.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
You're about the seventh person to have posted this. Thanks.
November 11th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
Our game vs. Maryland will kick at noon. Not surprising.
http://www.testudotimes.com/2014/11/10/7171873/maryland-football-michig…
November 11th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Sounds about right. If there ever was a game "worthy" of only a noon start, It's Michigan - Maryland 2014.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
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November 11th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
2.) was everyone NOT bitching last year because we had so many noon games and hardly any 3:30 games? They just can't win can they.
3.) START TIME DOESNT IMPACT OUR RECORD! Did it not occur to you that we typically play noon games when it's shitty opponents therefore yeah, our record will look good. Regardless, a 3.5 hour difference of when we start isn't going to change our performance on the field.
YOU ARE SO DUMB, YOU ARE REALLY DUMB, FOR REAL!
3.)
November 11th, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
unitl 6 days prior to anounce the game time. What about people making travel plans or, you know, basic life plans?
November 11th, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
I'm sorry -- did you mean N00N games or M00N games?
November 11th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
My memory has Bo saying that the games were supposed to start at 1:00 not noon.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Well, this ain't the NFL.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
His quote was "Toe meets leather at 1:05. You want to take pictures, c'mon down."
November 11th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
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November 11th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
With alumni in many time zones, I'd guess 3:30 is more appealling to draw in the West Coast alums. I can't quite imagine being in California and watching a college football game at 9:00am.
November 11th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
November 11th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
1945-2010
November 11th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
No.
Noon games, 1990-2014.
Find me a single noon home game before 1985 or so, when the courts forced the NCAA to deregulate televised football. Just one. You can't, because they didn't exist. Noon games are a creation of the television networks.
A majority of the games in the '50s started at 2:00.
A majority of the games in the '60s started at 1:30.
A majority of the games in the '70s started at 1:00.
Games kept getting longer (because offensive strategies were changing), so they kept moving up the starting time. But they never considered starting before 1:00 until TV started telling them to do it.
November 11th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
It's really nice on the west coast. I don't like to start drinking until at least 10am.
November 11th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
In my opinion isn't it usually less important games that are played at noon? It just seems that games against easy non-conference teams or not as competitive Big Ten games have been played at Noon in the past, at least for Michigan, which is why we might have a much stronger record in those games.
November 11th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
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November 11th, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
Works the same way in every conference.