The first couple games of the season finally have been set. The opening game against Bowling Green is getting televised on ESPNU so it has the dreaded 12 pm start. Good to land somewhere on the WWL’s opening weekend tv slate. Bad for a noon time thing. It also doesn’t help that the Pirates have a 7:05pm start to their game at PNC Park (like anyone will be there if there isn’t a bobblehead give-a-way). Bowling Green is actually a decent challenge to open the season. They are expected to be the team to beat in the MAC East with 17 starters returning.
The following week against another MAC East team, Buffalo comes in for a 6pm start and the chance to tailgate all day. The game has no TV coverage, so that’s why there is the strange game time. No word on whether Pitt’s “All-Access” will have the rights to stream the live video.
The Iowa game is still unknown. Likely because ABC/ESPN is still deciding which channel and when they want to show it. The choices are limited because naturally the Pirates have another 7:05 pm home game. AD Pederson is admitting as much.
“We don’t get into much wiggle room. Since I got here, Frank Coonelly of the Pirates and I have gotten to be good friends, and Frank’s terrific. We’ve talked about, in the future, us meshing schedules and working to do the very best we can for both of our fan bases to make sure we don’t end up with conflicts on the same weekends.
“I think we’re both committed to try to make all of that work for both of our fans. The problem was, to some extent their schedule was already set before Frank got here and our schedule was already set before I got here, so there just wasn’t much wiggle room there.”
By next year, we should have an idea as to whether that’s just words and both sides still do their own thing, or if ex-AD Jeff Long never grasped intermediate communications and planning with the Pirates.
As annoying as an early start for the first game is, I can’t disagree with Pederson’s point.
“Noon kickoffs can be tough, but, that early in the season, there is so much excitement for our team and such a buzz for our team that it is really going to be a great day,” Pederson said. “I think the excitement surrounding our team is the reason ESPN wanted to televise our opener because let’s face it people are talking about our team.”
The early opening game will still get fans this season. It’s purely selfish reasons on my part for wishing the opener was later in the day. Beyond simply not having to leave for the ‘Burgh by 7am, on the first game I love getting on to the campus just for a little. Then there’s wanting a longer tailgate as friends I haven’t seen since the end of last season gather for the first game. Doing all of that in the second week, just doesn’t seem the same.
We already knew the Backyard Brawl was going to be noon on Friday after Thanksgiving, but I guess it’s nice to know some of the backstory.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be unbelievable if we could get our game moved to national television?” Pederson said. “History would say that the Friday after Thanksgiving is a great day to watch college football. There aren’t as many games going on, so you really can captivate the nation that day.”
It still beats having it on Thanksgiving night.
