Would you want a night game against MSU at the Big House?
Last year Warde Manuel said that we wouldn't have a night game as there wasn't a game big enough to be worthy of it. This year we only really have one big game at home in MSU. I see numerous advantages and disadvantages to putting the game at 7 or 8 pm. For advantages, it helps recruiting and gives the team a boost from the home crowd energy. Throttling State on primetime television would be sweet. On the other hand, it props up a 3-9 program and might lead to more issues with drunk fans but 3:30 games are already dark anyways and the SEC does these games all the time. It seems like something Harbaugh would do IMO. What say you?
February 21st, 2017 at 8:06 AM ^
Has Notre Dame at South Bend not Ann Arbor.
February 20th, 2017 at 6:50 PM ^
Like not at all.
February 20th, 2017 at 6:50 PM ^
bedtime is typically in the 10:00-ish range and has season tickets, I disapprove of night games. But in this case, I'm willing to take one for the team and come out at night. All this assumes that MSU recovers from their implosion and makes the game somewhat relevant. Otherwise, it's a waste of everyone's effort to make this a night game.
February 20th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
Username/Avatar checks out.
A toast to you & your soon to be replaced hip!
February 21st, 2017 at 3:06 AM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 6:52 PM ^
But I like the occasional night game, in spite of getting back to the east side of Detroit ridiculously late (for me).
"Occasional" as in not every year. Every 3 years or so would be enough to keep it a special event.
February 20th, 2017 at 6:51 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 7:18 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 7:26 PM ^
I'd be for it, but I'd likely be watching on TV, not in person. On a weekend night I typically don't mind late.
February 20th, 2017 at 7:46 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 7:56 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:08 PM ^
Harbaugh does not want night games. He likes to get home on Saturday nights and enjoy the (presumed) win. If the game starts at 8PM he probably doesn't get home until 230AM. During the football season - September thru early December, Saturday nights are his only "off time". IMO - he's earned the right to push against home night games (we will play many away night games anyway).
Warde fell on the sword last year and he will continue to do so moving forward. The only way we start to have night games in the Big House is if Harbaugh determines it will benefit crootin compared to the enjoyment he gets out of being at home on Saturday night.
February 20th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
So it should be up to the current coach's preferences only? Christ, is once a year or every other year asking too much?
I like seeing this state of things for the football team, but at some point i have to wonder if worth it - like canceling an SEC west opponent and absolutely whoring out to get ND back on the schedule, and no night games ever
February 20th, 2017 at 8:52 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:09 PM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 3:04 AM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:34 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:36 PM ^
I honestly wouldn't mind as long as we put up a wall and kept anyone without tickets off campus. I don't want their trash trashing the place even more than usual
February 21st, 2017 at 3:04 AM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
I've never understood why people are so against night games. The arguments against them are pretty lame and pretty much apply to any game, not just night games.
In genreal I'd rather not play OSU at night just because it is so late in the year and if it is going to be that cold, I would prefer there are least be the possibility of some sunlight, but for a #1 vs #2, I would take it and I would like it. On the other side of the coin, I really likied UTL 1 and 2 because it was early in the season and it was still plenty warm and without the sun beating down on what, in September, can sometimes be a rather hot day.
In a year where our only major non-November candidate is MSU, I'm all for it, particularly when they are so early on the schedule like this year. I'd also be cool with Nebraska, PSU, and probably even Wisconsin in a night game under similar circumstances, but looking ahead to when our better OOC schedule starts kicking in, I would say I would rather hold the big night game for an infrequent opponent, like Texas, Oklahoma, UCLA, and so on. File ND under that category too if that continues to be an every once in a while deal.
February 21st, 2017 at 3:03 AM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^
But at some point, do you not think the dollars that would be waved for a prime time airing of The Game would not be too much for either the bucknuts or our AD to turn down? Not saying it will be soon, but it never makes sense to say "never" when it comes to big time sports and what dollars can do.
February 20th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 9:29 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 9:45 PM ^
Don't they all have curfew or something?
February 20th, 2017 at 9:49 PM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 3:02 AM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 7:58 AM ^
And love to share it with the world in prime time.
February 20th, 2017 at 9:53 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 10:03 PM ^
Did you see what happend at Iowa? That would not have happened if it was a noon game..This year coming up you can basically guarantee that we are Penn State's "whiteout" game at 8pm..you see what happened to Ohio State in that game last season? And also, what have noon and 3:30 games ever produced? A split title in '97?? Tradition is great and all, but it's time to do some big things in the national spotlight..no better spot than a primetime, huge game at home. GO BLUE!
February 20th, 2017 at 10:41 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 10:40 PM ^
I, for one, would like to see it.
I was near the 40, about 35 rows up, for UTL I. The day around Ann Arbor, the electricity in the air, the stadium at night, etc. made the atmopshere like none other.
I have been attending games at Michigan Stadium since I was 6, starting with my mother and father in 1959. I was a student beginning in 1971, and lived in town for both undergrad and professional school. I used to travel by car to road games in my younger days. I sat directly behind Johnny Orr for the crushing of Rutgers and the loss to Indiana in the 1976 final in Philly at the Spectrum, as I lined up for a ticket immediately after we won the regional final, and stayed up all night outside the ticket office. My father was a season ticket holder for many years, but I always found the way to get the best seat was to scalp in, that is until my brother began working in the AD in a pretty good position, and tickets availability was a perk of that relationship.
In short, I have been to many, many Michigan sporting events in my lifetime, and am emotionally connected to the school as anyone. My brother and I scalped into the first Pistons NBA title game in 1989, witnessing the final of a four-game sweep of the Lakers. I have been to more OSU games than I have fingers.
I can unequivocally say that the night game against ND, even though you knew that team was really not going anywhere, was the most exciting sporting event I have ever witnessed in person, college or pro. 100,000 people going nuts singing in the stadium late at night, nobody wanting to leave will be forever etched in my brain.
MSU, or OSU, at night would have the potential to top that. I understand the concerns, but do not buy the logic of not wanting such a game at night. It is a natural, and will come to pass I bet, just not in my lifetime, which is ok.
The question, like "should freshmen be eligible?", or "should we be allowed to go to a Bowl other than the Rose Bowl?, really answers itself.
February 20th, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^
February 20th, 2017 at 10:52 PM ^
If the football program can figure out the logistics to taking the team and support staff to Italy, it can figure out how to get a night game with State. I'll tweet Coach Harbaugh to see if he can make it happen.
February 21st, 2017 at 12:10 AM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 1:07 AM ^
I imagine a convoy of U-hauls laden with couches. The rest is too horrible to describe..
February 21st, 2017 at 2:55 AM ^
February 21st, 2017 at 3:18 AM ^
Selfishly I would freaking love more night games. I work nearly every Saturday afternoon and typically have to pick and choose the games I take off for. The avoiding spoilers for 4-5 hours thing is a drag and not always possible.
Plus I don't really buy the whole too drunk Staee theory here. If you don't want to do it, don't do it.
February 21st, 2017 at 7:52 AM ^
The drunk fan argument doesn't make any sense either. I mean if it's a noon game, people booze fast and hard starting at 7am (and sneak liquor into the stadium). Timing doesn't have anything to do with drunkenness.
February 21st, 2017 at 8:13 AM ^
I think it'd be fine.
February 21st, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
NO!,
especially against Sparty this year. The networks will never have it, Sparty will be worst team in country.
February 21st, 2017 at 10:46 AM ^
Nothing would be sweeter than to decimate Staee in a night game. THis would be outstanding. I am generally in support of night games anyway due to the exposure they get and energy they generate. Tons of fun.
February 21st, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
would be a party all night - great for recruits too
February 21st, 2017 at 2:22 PM ^
There is too much drinking at an MSU game in the daytime. It would be worse at night, and then we would have to drive home with drunken Spartans behind the wheels of 100s of cars. Yikes!
February 21st, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
Wish we didn't have to play on the road at night either...
February 21st, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^
No.
Win or lose, MSU has a history of ugly post game behavior. No matter when the game starts, the stadium will fill for an MSU game and it will get national coverage. SImply no reason to deal with the aftermath of a night game with those guys.