Notre Dame fans are plenty used to seeing the Fighting Irish play on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend. Last season kicked off with Notre Dame surviving a scare at Florida State on the first Sunday night of September while 2016 saw the disaster of a season begin with a Sunday night thriller at Texas.
Brett Ludwiczak of Land-Grant Holy Land chimed in recently that because of the storylines and bigness of Notre Dame-Ohio State this coming September, that the season opener should be moved to prime time on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend.
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For the most part I disagree and I’ll get to why but Ludwiczak did raise one fantastic point that I’ll share now.
Another reason I’d love to see the Ohio State opener pushed back a day is so it doesn’t get the Big Noon Saturday treatment. I know the FOX noon game is going to have to be something we get used to, especially with the Big Ten and FOX likely to strengthen their deal in the coming years. It still doesn’t change the fact that noon kickoffs are the worst. Plus, a nooner in early September could be painfully hot for those in attendance.
For the love of everything holy he’s right that this game shouldn’t be a 12 p.m. ET kickoff. If ever a game were built for primetime on opening weekend, wouldn’t it be between Notre Dame and Ohio State in this year to come of all years?
I know Fox did very well with their Big Noon Kickoff games this past season but can we all agree that noon ET kickoffs should be reserved for the lesser compelling Power Five games?
Indiana and Illinois who meet that weekend are a perfect representative of what a noon kickoff should look like on Labor Day weekend, not a couple of blue bloods who are located only a few hours away and have met just a handful of times historically.
As for Sunday however, I’m simply just not a fan of Sunday night games. Sure, it’s great to be able to watch all the other contests on opening weekend and not worry about missing your team. The fact this is a true home-and-home between Notre Dame and Ohio State in the era of big-time contests being played in NFL stadiums is hat tip-worthy for both schools.
College football is also meant for Saturdays, even if that Sunday night of Labor Day weekend slot has become quite a hit.
Sign me up for the Irish and Buckeyes under the lights but can you please make it for Saturday night like the good lord intended?
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