Thursday 9/2 is going up to 11.We've received a pretty credible tip (confirmed, see update below) that the season opener against Marshall will be moved to Thursday, September 2nd, setting up what we believe is Ohio State's first Thursday night game since defeating Wyoming 24-10 on August 28th, 1997. While that matchup was part of the Eddie Robinson Football Classic, the Marshall game this season won't have any such special event attachments.
No doubt this will not go over well with some of the more conservative members of the fanbase (primarily those that think anything but a 12pm or 3:30pm kickoff is blasphemy) and the move will make travel plans rough for those of you that attend every season opener, but looking at the positives from such a move, the team will have two additional days to prepare for the Hurricanes ahead of their visit to the Shoe the following weekend (which is also rumored to possibly be a prime-time event).
From a television perspetcive, if the game is moved to Thursday, it's probably going to be a BTN telecast. ESPN already has a double-header lined up with Southern Miss at South Carolina followed by USC at Hawaii and the net has a desire to move more kickoff games into the coveted Thursday night spot ahead of Labor Day weekend. Last season featured Indiana welcoming Eastern Kentucky in a renovated Memorial Stadium.
You now have eight months to figure out how to get Friday off of work should you wish to participate in what's likely to be a pretty big Thursday night bash in Columbus.
UPDATE: And in the time it took me to whip up the post, the university has confirmed the move to Thursday night.
Comments
I got a Breaking News notice from the Lantern in my email that confirms this. Gene Smith has given comment on it.
http://www.thelantern.com/spor...
Indeed. I need to learn to type faster.
what is the point of playing on thursday if there is no additional exposure? its not like its an ESPN game, its the big ten network.
You done good, Jason.
Why couldn't it be shown on ESPN2?
Suppose it could be on ESPN2, but I just have a hunch it will be a BTN game.
The WWL works in mysterious ways.........
Then again, Minnesota opens its season at Middle Tennessee the same night, so perhaps that will be on the BTN?
Wow - I just assumed this would be a Thursday night ESPN broadcast... Now I have slid into the traditionalist bitcher camp.
In other news, the 2011 schedule is easily the lamest in history.
off topic- but if anyone is in for a little chuckle. Ex-OSU whiner Anthony Crater, in the two games he has played now for USF: 0-13 FG, 0-5 from three.
Thanks, Gene. Gimmicky uniforms and now a Thursday night game. Now we're just like everybody else, nothing special. Time for stadium naming rights!
@ miami sounds great to tampa buckeye.
Right, because Florida State, Florida, Virginia Tech, the 'Canes, LSU and other "traditional powers" didn't bust out alternate uniforms for Nike this past year, and none of those teams have ever played Thursday games. We're totally special.
Definitely a fireable offense for the guy running one of the most profitable athletic departments in the country.
By Crackie, I stopped following the poisionus nuts once they moved their blasted games from the traditional 1:30 start. By the way how are Woody and the boys doing these days? Still winning Rose Bowls. That Tom Matte and Paul Warfield combo, what thrills that gave ye!
God forbid anything changes,this first game of the year will really change things for centuries to come.......
Love the move to Thursday night. Columbus at noon on a Saturday in early September is ungawdly hot and uncomfortable.The crowd is dead. The team is often flat. Night games are fun and the fans and players MAY actually be awake (and tanked?) even on Thursday. Who cares what network it's on? We all get BTN, right?
Right! But left, for the people who think the sun shines too bright!
My 2nd ever Ohio State game was in September of my freshman year at OSU, at night, against Northwestern. It was one of the very few night games ever played up to that point. The Shoe was off the chain.
Night games rule.
A big performance for Pryor and the Buckeyes on the very first night of college football, when people are giving a serious look at them to be contenders for a national title, in prime-time when no other games are on...what could be better? Plus, it gives them a couple of extra days to prepare for Miami. I think it's a great move.
Above was me. I hate "anonymous," like many here do, so I wanted to clarify.
normally i would hate, HATE!!!!, this move but i like this one in particular and can let it slide for these reasons:
1- it's the first game of the season and doesn't throw a huge wrench in the normal routine
2- 2 extra days of practice for the criminals coming from tha U a week later... gotta be worth something, right?
3- this turns another crummy early september noon kickoff that leaves no time for pre-game festivities and kills the rest of the day cuz everyone is so drained from the game all afternoon into a kick-a$$ all day party to kick off what should be one heck of a season for the silver bullets. like bucksfan mentioned above... night games and day games @ the shoe are like "night and day" [see what i did there?] but in all honesty it is literally a different stadium when the sun dips below the olentangy.
4- the national coverage argument is kind of weak b/c the following week all eyes will turn towards columbus for yet another all-star non-con game.
an all-day party to kick-off the season w/ a rollicking shoe on a thurs night in the 614? count me in. [just this once.]
The reasons for this move sounds like stuff I read for MAC schools.
Except for the big crowds and exciting football stuff.
a kickass all-day party? on a thursday????
this is exactly why i DONT like this move. personally, i work 8am-5pm which means i would definitely have to take a portion (if not all) of thursday off in order to properly tailgate. then you throw in how hungover i am going to be on friday, and its probably a good idea for me to take at least a portion (if not all) of friday off in order to recover. taking two days off before a three day weekend is frowned upon by the mucky mucks who sign my paychecks. unfortunately.
i dont like the move. and that doesnt make me a stick in the mud who refuses to get-with-the-times and fears change. i am all for changing things that dont work and staying on the cutting edge of what makes college football the greatest sport in america, but this move doesnt make sense to me. you are infringing on those people who like to come into columbus for the opening game of the year, you are significantly decreasing the amount of money that will be spent in the campus area that weekend, and you are arent even able to say with any conviction that anyone outside of those people who get the big ten network will even be able to WATCH a night game at ohio freaking stadium.
i dont know. maybe it will pay off and i dont know what i am talking about. maybe a recruit or three will see that ohio state is doing some pretty cool stuff and it will swing them in our favor. but for now, for me, the thought of losing even one weekend of tailgating and an entire saturday of buckeye football makes me semi ill.
its why i dont like playing in the fiesta bowl - going to work the day after an ohio state football game makes me want to die. it sucks. and i am allergic to stuff that sucks.
agreed - that game was great. i love night games in the 'shoe on saturdays.
ON SATURDAYS.
Traditionalism aside, this is a terrible idea -- it interferes with thirsty Thursdays!
I would be very much in favor of the game if it were on ESPN. Roll out the 2010 championship campaign infront of America. However, I pretty much hate every game on the BTN. The announcers are terrible, the cameramen miss plays, and the overall coverage is pretty much Bush League. I just think the BTN sucks. Other than that, It'll give me something to watch on a Thursday night that I actually care to watch.
Simply put, I dig it.
i am ok with it for reason it gives 2 more days to get ready for miami, to me kinda falls in the boat with the "throwback" jersey debate i am ok with it once. i had forgot all about the wyoming 97 game but dont make this a habit though, tOSU is not the acc or the mac! also u can garentee the swoosh is ringing the hayes athletic center about making a "special thursday uni"
I am appalled! Appalled I say! We are THE Ohio STate University. We don't need to move our games to Thursday Nights. Thats for tOSU wannabees like Boise State and Cincinnati.
Lets start thinking about what separates the TOSUs from the unwashed masses of college football.
Attendance (Third largest stadium in college football)
Pagentry (TBDBITL)
Tradition (Too many to list)
Excellence (Since Woody Hayes came to Columbus (time started then didn't it?) tOSU is THE WINNNINGEST PROGRAM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!!)
http://football.stassen.com/cg...
I am really sick and tired of the over commercialization of college football. Thats not a traditionalist view...its a crumudgeonly view. College football should be played on Saturday. The only exception is for those poor saps who can't get on TV any other way. tOSU doesn't apply to this.
I don't see how this harms anything really. As I said the only thing I hate is that it's on BTN, because that network is horrible. But I don't think playing on a Thursday hurts anything. It'll be the 2nd time in 15 years that it's happened. I'm all for preserving tradition, but one game ever 6 or 7 years really isn't trying to kill tradition.
Is college football out of control with commericalization? Sure, but to stay one of the the elite programs, so that you last the test of time in today's world you have to play the game. That means once in a while doing something that is not traditional (even those dumb nike uniforms)
I have a bad feeling that this game is going to end up on ESPNU, which is not available where I live. I'll gladly put up with BTN's piss-poor coverage other than missing it.
Who really gives a shit? If that is the worst thing that happens to us next year then I'm all for it. Is there nothing more important to talk about other than a simple schedule change against a team we are going decimate in a tune up game.
My lovely cable company has decided to no longer include it in my regular HD package so I have to pay extra for it. That means I have to drive to a bar down the road to watch the game. So BTN means I miss it too, unless I want to sit at a bar till 12:30 to watch them play Marshall.
call me crazy but i hate the noon games. stadium is just flat out dead. from a student perspective no one wants to get up that early and go to a game. a simple 330 start would do wonders for the crowd. and we all know this would be just another flat, ho-hum noon game had this not occurred. as stated above... a minor change every 6-7 years is not necessarily a horrible idea. do i prefer it? no, not really. but there's worse things that could happen. i mean... our head coach could be averaging 12.5 criminal arrests per bcs title or jumping ship less than a year after arrival.
But, the Ro-tel commercials....
15 minute meals are the story of my life....
Is it me or does anyone else get the cheesy porn vibe from those commericals?
haha, never thought about it, but yes! that's exactly what they're like!
Can a brother get an amen!
Who really gives a shit? If that is the worst thing that happens to us next year then I’m all for it. Is there nothing more important to talk about other than a simple schedule change against a team we are going decimate in a tune up game.