SoCon - Thursday Night Fever

[Mountaineer]

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga had the regional college football stage to itself on Sept. 3, the Thursday before the first Saturday of the season, and the Mocs delivered a solid season-opening performance in front of the third-largest crowd ever to witness a UTC game at Finley Stadium.

A crowd of 14,002 came out for it, including about 2,000 students, and there were plenty of pregame tailgaters enjoying themselves, so why not play on Thursday more often?

UTC athletic director Rick Hart said he wants to open the season on Thursday night as often as possible -- the Mocs also kicked off their 2007 season on a Thursday, with less satisfying results -- and he's not opposed to playing on Thursday more than once during the season.

However, he said, once school begins and travel and missed classes become a factor, playing on Thursdays becomes much more complicated, especially if a team plays the Saturday before the Thursday game.

"If it's not going to be a big competitive disadvantage, I would consider it," Hart said.

Hart said the Mocs are opening the 2010 season with a home game against Appalachian State and he'd like for that to be a Thursday game, if the Mountaineers agree to it.

"I think it could be a neat game," Hart said.

Samford and Western Carolina have played Thursday games in recent years, and Wofford and Appalachian State played on Friday last season, but the Mocs' opener against Glenville State is the only non-Saturday game in 2009.

Samford, like UTC, is surrounded by some of the Southeastern Conference's most rabid fans, and Samford athletic director Bob Roller said it is nearly impossible to get a non-diehard fan in Birmingham interested in the Bulldogs on Saturdays.

"You absolutely have a better chance trying to get health care reform passed," Roller said.

That's a big reason why Roller likes the Thursday game. It gives the Bulldogs, just like it does the Mocs, the stage to themselves.

"I absolutely enjoy them greatly when you can pull them off," he said. "Strictly from a publicity standpoint, it is 100 to nothing," he said of the difference in attention, especially media attention, Samford gets locally when it plays on Thursday instead of Saturday.

But then comes the rub, the variables that keep Thursday games from appearing once or twice on many teams' schedules: travel time, missed classes, out-of-town attendance.

Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino said the league has discussed playing on Thursdays in the past, but there hasn't been much support for it among school presidents, athletic directors and coaches.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009 ... ght-fever/

[dbackjon]

I think that is a great idea

[TwinTownBisonFan]

i'm sure i'll take shit for this... but i'll say it anyway - i hope chatty can get it together and grow that program... Finley Stadium is so nice and Chatty would seem to be a great FCS market... I know they are in a hot corner for FBS football with 6 HUGE programs within a few hours drive... but i think the Thursday idea would be ideal in the football-crazed part of the country they are in...

[Mountaineer]

I think that is a great idea.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind see the Apps opening on a Thursday with Chatty. The Mocs would finally get a crowd that's not ASU dominated for a home game.

i'm sure i'll take shit for this... but i'll say it anyway - i hope chatty can get it together and grow that program...

No qualms about anything you've said. In fact, I'd say that most SoCon folks would like to see the conference become more competitive. It can only help.

[OL FU]

Fortunately I remember (unfortunately because of my age) when Chattanooga was one of the teams to beat in the SoCon. Yes it was the early 80s late 70s and that was a while ago. But I remember more than one year where the teams to beat in the SoCon were FU and UTC. (of course back then they were the Moccasins)

[Mountaineer]

Fortunately I remember (unfortunately because of my age) when Chattanooga was one of the teams to beat in the SoCon.

Ah, the days when man discovered fire..

[OL FU]

Fortunately I remember (unfortunately because of my age) when Chattanooga was one of the teams to beat in the SoCon.

Ah, the days when man discovered fire..

I'm not that old but I was around when we invented the wheel.

[Mountaineer]

I'm not that old but I was around when we invented the wheel.

Some things never change.

[citdog]

I'm not that old but I was around when we invented the wheel.

Some things never change.

NICELY DONE.....but it's spelled VERMIN!

[TwinTownBisonFan]

I'm not that old but I was around when we invented the wheel.

Some things never change.

[OL FU]

I'm not that old but I was around when we invented the wheel.

Some things never change.

HA HA HA

[T-Dog]

Fun tidbit as well, App St @ Florida is scheduled for November 20th 2010, the final week of the regular season.

[blueballs]

Fun tidbit as well, App St @ Florida is scheduled for November 20th 2010, the final week of the regular season.

Wow... nothing like taking your wrost beating of the year right before the playoffs, eh?

[Mountaineer]

Wow... nothing like taking your wrost beating of the year right before the playoffs, eh?

More than likely. The thing that can't be said though, is that ASU, and the SoCon in general, is afraid of playing the big boys. Paychecks are good, fans enjoy the games, players enjoy the games. I'd much rather see the Apps taking on BCS opponents, win or lose, than some of the games fellow I-AA teams schedule.

ASU future OOC opponents:
2010 - @ Florida
2011 - @ Virginia Tech
2012 - Montana
2013 - @ Georgia @ Montana
2014 - @ McNeese