Thread for Football Fall Camp

Hey football fans….How about a 9:30 am kickoff….saw this in the Oregonian today…….

Players, others alarmed about possibility of 9 a.m. kickoffs
Commissioner’s trial balloon all but shot down

by James Crepea

The Oregonian/OregonLive EUGENE — Troy Dye’s willingness to tackle might have finally found a limit: the proposed 9 a.m. games in the Pac-12.

To say the Oregon linebacker is not keen on the idea of waking up before the sun rises to play football is a gross understatement.

“If we played at 9 a.m. it would really be a crazy, crazy mess to be honest,” said Dye, Oregon’s leading tackler in each of the last three seasons. “Because you got to think, you got to have your pregame meal at least three to four hours before your game. So if the pregame meal is three to four hours before the game that’s a 5 a.m.-6 a.m. pregame meal, like, Jesus Christ. So what time do I have to wake up? 4 o’clock. So what time do I go to bed the day before that? 6:30-7 (p.m.). All right, then I just missed everything the day before, because we’re West Coast so everything is already behind.

“But I mean, I don’t think it’ll happen. I think they should just play more 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock games. 9 o’clock is just absurd. But hey, if it makes money, it makes money, man.”

In the days since Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott floated the idea of 9 a.m. kickoffs during the conference’s Media Day, most of the feedback from coaches, players and fans within the conference has been negative, though there are some supporters.

On one hand, the Pac-12 is trying to get more exposure in the Eastern and Central time zones, where over 70 percent of the U.S. population resides, and earlier local kickoff times would put some games in a television window with a much larger audience than the night games.

Conversely, earlier games would be a logistical challenge to coaches and players, particularly those traveling, who would need to get up extremely early to play, as Dye noted, as well as fans who drive significant distances to stadiums in locations like Eugene, Corvallis, Tucson, Boulder and Pullman.

Oregon coach Mario Cristobal was diplomatic in his response but is clearly not thrilled by the concept.

“It’s a challenge,” Cristobal said. “I think it’s interesting. I don’t judge until it’s done. You might say, ‘Hey I’ll play them at home; make somebody come here and we’ll play at 9 a.m.’ It’s very new. It’s uncharted waters. Probably a little bit difficult, but I’m no one to judge and I’ll hold judgment on that. That is a 5 a.m. pregame meal now. I’m going to invite all of you (media) for that one.”

For the sake of argument, if the Pac-12 were to play select 9 a.m. games this season, with the first three weeks and a select few other game

times already set, it would seemingly make the most practical and logistical sense to do so after Daylight Saving Time ends (Nov. 3).

That would leave four weeks to attempt to have every Pac-12 team play one game at 9 a.m., assuming the concept of fairness is part of this conversation. And if the conference were to only play those games when both teams are coming off bye weeks so as to allow for all players and coaches more time to adjust, 10 of the 12 conference teams could play early games.

In this hypothetical scenario, potential 9 a.m. games would be USC at Arizona State and Washington State at Cal Nov. 9, Arizona at Oregon and UCLA at Utah Nov. 16 and Washington at Colorado Nov. 23. Neither Stanford or Oregon State play a Saturday game in which both they and their opponent are coming off a bye week this season. However, OSU’s first bye week comes before hosting Stanford Sept. 28.

Of course, there are more questions than answers at this point and plenty of local push-back. Colorado athletic director Rick George said he could “almost guarantee” the Buffaloes would not be playing any early home games this season, making the aforementioned scenario moot. Scott also could have been floating a trial balloon.

jcrepea@oregonian.com