Alabama 'disappointed' that it has to play another afternoon game at home

Yahoo ^ | September 10, 2019 | Sam Cooper

[C19fan]

The SEC announced Monday that Alabama’s Sept. 21 home game against Southern Mississippi will kickoff at 11 a.m. local time. The school is not happy about it.

The school is so displeased with the news that president Stuart R. Bell and athletic director Greg Byrne released a statement to express the Tide’s position on the matter. “We are disappointed that our game against Southern Miss has been selected as a daytime kickoff at home,” the statement said. “We realize we’ve played more non-conference day games at home in September than any other SEC team since 2014. There have been a number of conversations with our conference office, and they also recognize the challenges these kick times present for our student-athletes and fans.”

[Alas Babylon!]

[crusty old prospector]

Is that the woman that I fortunately hear announcing other team’s games that has the high-pitched voice? I can’t imagine listening to a whole game with her as the announcer. I can stand most of the play-by-play types but some of the color commentators have to just shut up.

[dfwgator]

My only question is that the game the worst announcer in college football, Beth Mowens, will call.

Yep, that's when you know your program is no longer relevant.

[Hot Tabasco]

College football at night just sucks. I've already missed a U of M and MSU game due to them being night games.

College football should be played in the afternoon so fans can tail gate, go to the game then out to dinner.

You don't get to see the sun, the long shadows and the fall colors on the campus when they're televised at night......

[FXRP]

I think she is the lower pitch woman who sounds like she has marbles n her mouth.

[OrangeHoof]

Putting OU-Texas on in the afternoon is strategic. It keeps both fan bases from getting too drunk and rowdy the night before because they will need to be up the next morning for the game. Plus, more fans will drive home in the safety of daylight if the game is played during the day.

[dfwgator]

Putting OU-Texas on in the afternoon is strategic

It's also because it's during the State Fair of Texas.

[dfwgator]

College Football should only be played on Saturday afternoons on Campus, no more of this “Kickoff Classic” crap.

ESPN has killed college football.

[ebshumidors]

I’m actually looking forward to the U of M / Navy game at 7pm on a Thursday. But the again, I’m off on Fridays.

[Kaisersrsic]

Alabama would have no problem finding teams willing to schedule home-and-home series with them. There are 12 “regular season” games each year. The last time Alabama played 5 away games (ONE away game out of conference) was 2011. The next is at Texas in 2022, 11 years later.

Alabama prefers neutral site games both for the money and the experience. Because they regularly schedule neutral site games in Atlanta and Dallas, Alabama has an advantage in the SEC championship game and in playoff games. Here is some of the history:

2014 Season
Neutral Site Game: Alabama vs. WVU at Mercedes Stadium (Atlanta - Dome)
SEC Championship Game: at Mercedes Stadium
Playoff Game: Superdome

2015 Season
Neutral Site Game: Alabama vs. Wisconsin at AT&T Stadium
(Dallas - Dome)
SEC Championship Game: at Mercedes Stadium
Playoff Game: Alabama vs. Michigan State at AT&T Stadium (Dallas - Dome) + Arizona

2016 Season
Neutral Site Game: Alabama vs. USC at AT&T Stadium
(Dallas)
SEC Championship Game: at Atlanta Mercedes Stadium (Dome)
Playoff Games: Atlanta (Dome) + Tampa

2017 Season
Neutral Site Game: Alabama vs. Florida State at Mercedes Stadium (Atlanta - Dome)
SEC Championship Game: at Mercedes Stadium (Atlanta - Dome)
Playoff Games: Superdome + Mercedes Stadium

2018 Season
Neutral Site Game: Orlando (no match)

2019 Season
Neutral Site Game: Alabama vs. Duke at Mercedes Stadium (Atlanta - Dome)
SEC Championship Game: at Mercedes Stadium
Playoff Games: Mercedes Stadium or Fiesta Bowl + Superdome.

Congratulations to Alabama for being able to pull this off. But, they make their own schedule. If Alabama home games in September are unwatchable they have no room to complain.

[dfwgator]

Saban was complaining last year that students weren’t going to the home games.

[wrcase]

I understand they can’t force teams to play them, but the networks aren’t going to put guaranteed blowouts in prime-time. If Alabama wants quality opponents, they have to offer them something more than “you get to play us at our house and a southern neutral site game”.

[Vermont Lt]

So, they aren’t going to fill the stadium?

Fans won’t drink or eat?

Or is it TV revenues?

Or do they need their baby sleep.

[JohnBrowdie]

espn has destroyed college football, and the fact that people are whining over a noon kickoff (I remember when most college football games kicked off at noon) is just more proof. and the $ec has been a prime mover in that destruction/slutification.

the $ec in general, and alabama in particular, is espn’s cash-oozing prostitute, and now the prostitute doesn’t like the corner she has been ordered to work on.

the corner isn’t the problem. the fact that you are a whore is the problem.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Sorry, Tide.

TV calls the shots these days. You take the King’s shilling, you do the King’s bidding.

You could be Akron or Western Michigan with ESPN agitating for a 9AM kickoff.

[dfwgator]

That’s exactly what I propose.

Two weeks out of the season, random teams are drawn to play each other based on their final rankings from the previous season. One game would be in the first half of the year, and the other one towards the end of the regular season.

So you have the possibility of an SEC team having to travel to Big Ten Country in November.

[TomGuy]

Alabama has a tough time finding quality non-conference opponents willing to play them.

It is more than Bama. Many of the 'ranked' teams seem to be playing more opponents from relatively obscure schools -- such at Tweedlewink Community University and Day Care.

That seems to be a trend that has been going on for several years. If they cannot find competent competitors, the 'conferences' may need overhauling.

[JohnBrowdie]

the conferences are the primary mechanism to preserve the status quo. years ago, boise state scared the hell out of the “powers that be” by consistently crashing their party; this was a huge problem, so those prime movers then came up with conference realignment to guarantee there would never again be a new mouth to feed.

to suppress the outrage of the unwashed and unlearned masses, they threw the groundlings a bone with the worthless playoff system. the groundlings were stupid enough to buy it.

every now and then, you run into someone who has escaped the matrix, but for the most part, all you see is mindless bitching about big schools playing small schools at inconvenient times, which is just playing into the hands of your masters, and reinforcing the system of control.

[Sicvee]

Yes I miss afternoon football. The University of Washington Huskies hosted the California Bears last Saturday night. Kickoff was 7:30 PM. They played 9 minutes and then a lightning storm hit and the game was delayed 2 1/2 hours. They finished at 1:30 AM.

[Hot Tabasco]

Yes I miss afternoon football.

The only night time football games I approve are Friday night high school games.......