Predicting kickoff times for the remaining MSU 2015 schedule
Television revenue is the major driver of the significant increases we’ve seen in college athletic budgets over the past two decades. TV revenue has definitely helped level the playing field between large budget schools in the SEC and the smaller budget schools like Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The downside is that because of TV, kickoff times are solely determined by television executives, and those decisions are made less than two weeks from game day. This makes planning a football weekend a bit more challenging to fans attending the game.
The exception, of course, are the first three games of the year. We now know that the USM game in Hattiesburg on September 5 will kick off at 9 pm, the LSU game at Davis Wade Stadium on September 12 is set for an 8:15 kick, and the following week’s home game against Northwestern State will kick off at 3 pm. After that (except at Thursday night at Mizzou), kickoff times are anyone’s guess. It depends on who’s hot, who’s not and who else happens to be playing that day. With that in mind, here’s my best shot at predicting the game times of MSU’s remaining nine games:
Sept 26 – at Auburn. This one looks ready made for a 8:15 ESPN prime time telecast. The Florida-Tennessee game is that day and likely gets the nod for the 2:30 CBS game. Arkansas vs. Texas A&M at the Jerrydome in Arlington is another candidate for the CBS slot.
Oct 3 – at Texas A&M Tough call here, but I’m going with an 11 am start for this one. Alabama-Georgia, Arkansas-Tennessee and Ole Miss-Florida are also playing on this day.
Oct 10 – Troy. Another tough call, but I’m going with the middle SEC Network slot of 3 pm for this one. We also have Alabama-Arkansas, Georgia-Tennessee, Missouri-Florida and LSU-South Carolina going on this day.
Oct 17 – Louisiana Tech. This one looks like a 6 pm ESPN Network kick, although I wouldn’t rule out 11 am. Alabama-Texas A&M or Missouri-Georgia look like the best CBS bets, while the Florida-LSU game at Baton Rouge seems natural for the ESPN prime time slot.
Oct 24 – Kentucky. The third consecutive MSU home game doesn’t figure to be the CBS 2:30 game as it was last year, but I think it will be a night game, perhaps the late game on the SEC network at 6:30. Tennessee-Alabama, Texas A&M–Ole Miss and Auburn-Arkansas are the best candidates for the CBS slot.
Nov 5 – At Missouri. No guessing on this one; it’s slated to be ESPN’s featured Thursday night game and will kick off at 8 pm.
Nov 14 – Alabama. This game is one that every MSU fan hopes is the 2:30 CBS game, and I’m going out on a limb and predicting it WILL be the 2:30 CBS game. Only the Georgia-Auburn and Arkansas-LSU games look to have a chance of knocking this game out of the CBS slot.
Nov 21 – At Arkansas. Primarily because a lot of SEC teams are playing non-conference opponents, this game has a decent shot at the 2:30 CBS lot as well. The only other compelling game that weekend is LSU-Ole Miss, but that one just feels like a night game to me, so I’ll go with a second consecutive 2:30 CBS kick.
Nov 28 – Ole Miss. Lots of competition this day for the prime spots with the Iron Bowl and Florida State-Florida being playing on this day. Georgia plays at Georgia Tech, so that game is controlled by the ACC contract and won’t factor into determining our game time. I like playing the Egg Bowl at night in Starkville, so I’m going for the ESPN primetime broadcast at 8:15.
Remember, these times are only a guesses on my part so yours are as good as mine. The good news is that we are talking about kickoff times, which can only mean the upcoming football season is fast approaching. And that’s always a good thing.