The game against Pittsburgh on Oct. 12 will be at Noon on ESPNU.— VT Football (@VT_Football) September 30, 2013
Yay!
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
The game against Pittsburgh on Oct. 12 will be at Noon on ESPNU.— VT Football (@VT_Football) September 30, 2013
Yay!
Comments
#ALLNOONEVERYTHING
sigh...
Looks like the Maryland game will the be the only non-nooner (hopefully.)
I wonder if they'll still be ranked by then?
FUCK!
Better be a lot of Maroon on those unis.
Oh come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn it!!!
Fucking awesome. I just love noon games. Love it. Nothing I love more than noon games...
yep.
...so awesome /sarcasm
What I want to know is what other game on that slate is worthy of being a 3:30 over this one?
#newhoos vs. Maryland apparently.
you've got to be kitten me
Our game time scheduling has been a catastrophe this year
Just wait for next year. For all we know they'll make a 10:00 AM slot and stick us in it for 3 of our home games. Our home schedule gets worse every single year...just you wait.
I saw what u did there. Here's a turkey leg. Don't go spending it all in one place, meow.
Don't worry, I usually paws and reflect before I make any important purchases.
Every year I pick ONE home game to go to. I AM NOT GOING TO A NOON GAME WEAVER! I won't do it.
I picked to go this game thinking that it won't be a nooner, sigh. Looks like I will take my chances with the Maryland game as well now.
I guess I will be holding out for MD as well....this sucks! All I am asking for is a 3:30 kickoff.
MD game won't be a late afternoon or night game because they'll lose to fsu and/or clemson. Looks like we're rocking nooners for the entire season. Every year for the last 4 or 5 years our home schedule has gotten worse. Every year I see the schedule and think "wow, this is shi**y, there's no way it could be worse next year" and every year I'm wrong. I can only IMAGINE what our home schedule will be like next year...
not to mention, the conference scheduling is absolutely ridiculous! We're only going to play teams from the Atlantic Division (or Coastal if you're E$PN because apparently we're in the Atlantic according to them) like once every 8 years or something....stupid
I don't understand how Weaver could see this home schedule and say "Yea, this is the year I'm going to ask for no Thursday night game."
I was and still am shocked that at least one of the UNC, Pitt, and MD games are not a Thursday nighter, sigh.
So many people my age (21) have never even seen that movie. Thank god my dad thought movie ratings were dumb and bought it for me when I was 9. Made my childhood awesome.
I'm 21 as well. Every time it's on TV I stop everything I'm doing and just sit down and appreciate the comedic genius.
Another 21 year old reporting in. Watching this movie was one of the best decisions I've made in college
"I've done absolutely nothing today, and it was everything i though it could be..."
31 and it's depressing how real this movie truely is. "If I heard,'someone has the case of the mondays' I'd hit them in the face." (something like that). So many opportunities, and so little courage to actually do it (kidding). It suprized me how correct this movie is. And Dilbert, that dude must work in my building.
I'm 20 and I love this movie as well. This .gif is a perfect symbol of how excited I am for every occasion I get to watch it.
I'm 31 lol I've worked in at a cube the last 11 years..this movie is true! It's big corp America.
Welp, that does it for today.
boo-urns
+1 for the Simpsons reference
Any GIF from The Wire deserves many turkey legs.
...tell me you watched the season finale last night?
Of course! I was genuinely sad when it was over, knowing that there won't be any more episodes. It was truly one of the greatest shows of all time.
I wholly agree.
I totally called one of the events in the finale... Although it might've been one of the most obvious things that was going to happen.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoon
I see what you did there.
Jim Weaver is a dumb SOB. Be glad when that old bastard is gone.
Well hey, we're 3-0 when starting games before 2pm, right?
.... yay?
1-0 when starting 7 or later
So help us if we start at 5:30 again...
Each season I pick one home game to make, and this BS always happens. I thought for sure we'd luck out and be mercifully given at least a 1:30 kickoff, if not better.
What makes this worse, is that I'm getting ready to move to Colorado later this year, so my ability to make home games is going to have a new set of challenges apart from wife, kids, job, etc. We better put a curb stomping on Pitt this year to make up for the early kickoff.
Sweet, another primetime (for me) game!
-the only guy watching VT games in Africa
If we get our TV antenna working and Armed Forces Network picks the VT game i'm right there with ya! Sweating it up off of Africa too.
I've watched them from Nigeria before. Not this year though.
A turkey leg for each of my African bruddors.
This is brilliant.
I have no idea where you got this, but it is giving me flashbacks to a couple of relationships I was in.
Is this Bud Foster's wife?
As someone who only has the option of watching the games on TV, I don't mind the noon start. It simply means I have a buzz that much earlier in the day. Go Hokies!
My thoughts exactly.
Plus, you know, Annie...
A Community reference? That's an automatic +1 in my book
#SixSeasonsAndAMovie
Alison Brie is one of my favs
Someone tell the giraffe it's at 3:30!
She wouldn't watch it anyway, she prefers "analyzing" box scores.
In a related story from 6 months ago: Our home schedule sucks. We're lucky these games are on TV at all, these matchups aren't remotely compelling for anyone other than an alum to watch.
And it's fine. We need to continue to get better. Go play off the main stage and hone the craft. By the Miami game, we'll be back in primetime and people will be watching and we'll beat their ass.
Primetime at Miami probably doesn't make much of a difference to any Hokie fans. Those watching on TV probably don't care about the time, and those going to the game are probably traveling a day in advance anyway. I think much of the noon game agitation stems from people having to make commutes from places like NOVA and such.
breakfast tailgates y'all!
I do love breakfast, but seriously, enough with the nooners.
This is the savior of noon games. Bub's Dive Bar, the local Hokie bar here in San Diego, makes great breakfast.
Irish Coffee recipe will be totally dialed in this year... ugh.
UVa at Maryland at 3:30 on ABC???????????
(I know that is an option, and most likely will end up on the U, but even to have it be possible over our game?)
I am also not happy as the rest of you, but I heard some inside news that they are planning one late game this season, I was told a 7p.m. kickoff. Pretty reliable source. Im not sure which game but it narrows it down to either maryland or duke so I believe yall can figure which one it is out
It would have to be MD. It just has to be..........
at this point all logic is thrown out the window
One? We carried this conference for 6 years. Without us getting this conference some national respect it turns into the Big East and half the teams leave. And our reward is ONE night game in a season that we are competing for a division title? What a freaking joke.
we've played duke at home at night before....just sayin
it was the coldest game I think I've ever been to. It was 7 degrees out and I was sitting in SEZ and the game was WAAAAAAAY closer than I ever wanted it to be. I don't remember the final but I remember we won on a late score.
14-7, macho saved us with a int return for td if i remember correctly
Close. 14-3 in 2008. Kickoff was late afternoon, like 5:30 and it was freezing.
At least one person will be happy about this
Sam Rogers is NOT happy.
This is absurd. The thought of no night games is bad enough but we cant even get a 3:30? WTF. I swear if this season had somehow become a miracle and we got into the national championship game, Weaver or some other DF would have figured out how to make it a noon kickoff. SMFH.
Don't give him any ideas! He's probably calling up Swofford right now trying to talk him into make the ACC title game a noon kickoff just in case.
Is there any way we can get an earlier game?? Fuck it, lets kickoff at 9am!
For all the people who downvoted me earlier...
Just in case you may have missed it in past discussions, Weaver does not set the game time. While some frustration towards Weaver for the schedule can be justified, the days the game's are played are mostly on the ACC and the game time is on the TV networks.
Are we sure weaver doesn't have a man on the inside?
The good news is that my 5 yr old's soccer game continue to occur at 1230 eastern until early November. And the one weekend he didn't have a game guess what?? Neither did VT, oh but wait, their game was Thursday night. Well guess who else had a Thursday night game? My 7 yr old's 2d grade flag football league, at 730 eastern, which the refs apparently thought was the national championship because they kept saying time was still available in the game and it went 20 minutes over the one hour it is supposed to be. And of course I can't complain to my wife because I get dirty looks. Thank goodness for DVR, but still. It's somehow not as good as watching live.
The watch ESPN app on the iPhone with a set of ear buds is great while watching youth soccer. Just make sure that your cheers/jeers coincide with what's going on in the game occasionally. Tough to explain a "yes" cheer when a field goal is blocked in overtime at halftime of a soccer game....Just sayin.
Sadly true to me.
My kids have activities most days.
Luckily, my wife is a fan of College Football and she gets it.
I still blame Weaver because he has to agree to the game time.
I wonder if they can't figure out why ticket sales are down?
I mean really, another 12:00 game?
I have to believe that isn't true. Weaver can't say no to the game time that's given to him by the network. I think they are contractually obligated. Even if he could reject the time, I would imagine that it would result in the league (and in turn the University) forfeiting that would have been generated from televising the game.
Then they have not negotiated well enough and therefore still responsible for awful game times.
I don't believe there are any negotiations to be had about game times. It is the card you are dealt and that's it. If you have inside knowledge of how game time scheduling works with the networks, please share it with the rest of us. I'm only stating my understanding of how it works.
Well, before the season starts, the AD, network and interested parties get together and write a contract.
If the contract sucks the AD has absolutely no ssay in game times, it is 100% dictated by the network and Ticket sales may suffer.
A properly written contract would allow the AD some negotiating power to ensure his decade long record of sellout seats would continue.
A poorly written contract would not allow the AD any control over game times, especially in years where marquee games are lacking.
Thus, the AD is still responsible for game times.
Especially ESPN3 type games.
You are correct. The only games we can blame Weaver are the 1:30 kicks which occur when the game isn't televised (WCU). Weaver made the decision that all non-televised games will kickoff at 1:30 - any televised game is decided by the network with no AD input.
Then he has written or signed a poor contract and is still responsible.
There is no reason why the contract cannot have a clause that says 2 of 6 home games will be after 2:00 PM.
Bottom line is that if he has no control over individual games, it is because he signed a contract that took that control away and is still responsible for that decision
Can you provide a source for this information? I'd like to read more about it. Everything I can find indicates that times are 100% in control of the broadcast networks, and that media deals are typically done at the conference level, not the individual schools. The member schools have to agree to the deals, but the long-term contracts do not specify game times.
Do you not have any knowledge of how a contract works? Not trying to be a jerk.
2 sides sign a contract that is beneficial to both.
It's not a 1 sided thing.
If you sign away all your decision rights, and the decisions made for you are not in your best interest without compensation, then you have signed a poor contract.
The other side is not at fault, you are because you have agreed to a poor contract.
Thus, if the AD signed a contract with no controls to protect his ticket sales, he has signed a poor contract no matter short term, long term or perpetual.
I know how contracts work, thanks. I'm just curious how you know that our AD signs a contract that explicitly specifies times or gives up those rights. I have never seen anything reported that an AD has that level of control.
I asked a curious and legitimate question, would appreciate a sincere reply.
The compensation received is the giant pile of TV money VT gets from the ACC TV deal. It's a nice chunk of change.
dude you have no idea what you're talking about. virginia tech is a member of the acc. the acc has an exclusive contract with abc/disney/espn. that entity decides which games it will air on it's networks at which time. if it decides not to schedule a game, then it can be picked up by the acc network or fox sports south or comcast sports, who espn has contracts with to broadcast games. they then determine when the game will be broadcast.
if nobody wants it after that, it will be broadcast by espn3. weaver and frank have decided they like 1:30 for those. that is the only kickoff time determined by the school. so bitch about that all you want. weaver never went to bristol to negotiate about kickoff times. it doesnt work that way. dont like the multi-billion dollar contract the acc has with espn? take it up with swofford. dont like the kickoff times? then the school needs to start winning some games. i remember back in the mid 2000s the players complaining about how every game was a night game and they had to wait around all day to play. what's the difference between then and now? the quality of the team, that's what.
Like I said, poor contract. Thanks for proving my point.
my point is that if we're ranked high and are putting an exciting product on the field, then we could have night game most every week. kind like it was a few years ago. as it is we aint, so we dont. but you're clearly an expert on the matter, how exactly would you go about getting some later kickoffs?
Negotiate a better contract.
I didn't say I'm an expert but, it all depends on how much control you give away. Retain some for yourself in the contract and you can get some times when you want them, or closer to the time you want them.
Easy as that. Not a tough concept to grasp.
In the college football market, if you're not Notre Dame, you hold zero individual sway. If VT (whoever makes the decisions - Steger, Weaver, whoever) wants to control kickoff times, he can do that, but with a lot less money and a lot less exposure. The deal that the ACC got with ESPN was very lucrative for all the schools ($20 million per year when the conference finishes its expansion next year). The job of the university President and the AD is to keep the school and its programs fiscally sound. The existing deal did just that. The more I read, the more it sounds like Steger makes the agreements at the conference level, not Weaver, so this whole "AD should have negotiated a better deal" really sounds like a wash.
I understand they probably signed away control for cash.
That means nothing except that they signed away control for cash.
Does that reduce my desire for a 3PM kickoff so I can eat lunch off the grill and a beverage or 2?
Nope, it means I can still hold them responsible. It was their control to give away and they did. along with it they gave away some season ticket sales and they lost their sellout record. Perhaps it was not important to them, the cash was more important. Again, it does not absolve them of the responsibility.
Because the alternative is to get nothing. In order to negotiate a better deal, you have to hold clout. No individual school (except the Domers, for some reason) has any. The way the system is set up, only a conference, as a whole, has any power to make a decision. Does ESPN care if VT were to walk away and seek a better deal? They'd laugh all the way to the bank - one less school they'd have to pay, and we'd end up exclusively on Raycom making pennies on the dollar. Would I like to see better times for kickoffs? Sure, we agree on that. Is it worth the fiscal integrity of our athletics program to do it? Not in my mind.
VT doesn't negotiate with the network, they negotiate with the ACC, the ACC negotiates with the network.
VT gave away all the marbles to the ACC.
Doesn't change a thing regardless of who you negotiate with. VT is probably in a stronger negotiating position with the ACC than the networks because VT's fan base always packs in the stadiums and brings the dollars in.
Whose fan base did you hear cheering at the VT-Gt game, the home team or the fantastic Hokie fans?
that kind of stuff gives negotiating power to VT to get a better deal with the ACC which negotiates with the networks.
I don't care who they negotiated with, they negotiated a bad deal.
I knew that when I saw this thread had 116 comments there would be something like this in it, but clicked on it anyways #loyaltkp'er
I'm just impressed no one downvoted. Either way this thing could go on forever.
The alternative is to not agree to the TV contract and have no games televised. What would you prefer?
You guys have never negotiated any kind of a contract before, have you.
You don't understand how conference television contracts work do you? As stated by others, this is not on a per school level. They may not even be able to broadcast games on CSN or other networks at night due to other scheduling conflicts. Quit acting like you know the entire situation unless you've actually managed to read the exact contract for broadcasting games for the conference.
I know that if you start with 100% control and sign contracts, you sign away a certain amount of rights.
We want games with different start times than those imposed by the networks, therefore the contracts are poor, from our point of view because we assume the AD doesn't get sufficient rights to get some games to a better part of the day for those going to the games.
For all we know, the AD has 100% control and just likes games at 12:00.
I think that time sucks. We cannot blame the network for those times because the AD signed away the rights for the times. We blame the AD (or whomever designated by the school) for not retaining some control.
Are you the Darren Rovell of contracts now?
We can blame the AD all we want for "signing away the rights for the times" but I'm not going to blame him for making a smart financial decision. You need to understand that it's not financially smart to bail on the TV contract.
I think what he's trying to say is
Oh, Bingo.
Turkey leg for the brevity in loquaciousness and perfect pic selection.
Sorry, Quickmeme doesn't have the SARCASM font...
Non-sequitor.
ad hominem
I don't care if it's financially smart or not, they did it.
They are to blame for signing that away, they traded it for money. Between the crappy start times and the lack of a marquee opponent at home, they are losing ticket sales and season ticket sales are way down.
You pretend as if they had as much power as the guy selling popcorn in the stands. Am I to blame the popcorn guy or the AD for the schedule?
If Miami played here at home, like they were scheduled, you think the game would be at 12:00? It would be a t 3:00. Did VT have a say in the ACC expansion and then the schedule changes?
So what you're saying is you'd rather have Weaver control the kick-off times and lose lots of money ($20 million next year) and not be televised? If so, cool. That's your opinion but I think everyone here is trying to help you understand that it's not a smart move unless you're ND.
@egbert...Deep breath here....Yes. You are correct. VT had to negotiate with the ACC at some point. At some point or another, they signed away their rights to start times. And as you said in an earlier post "we want later start times", and because we're not getting them, the contract is bad. I fear there may be a few things you have failed to consider. They are listed below.
1) You have listed what YOU want, and what dictates a good contract in YOUR interests. Consider that Weaver, Steger, whoever it is, may have different interests. THEY are the ones with the contract, not YOU. And though you may come back with "late start times are good for recruiting, and therefore good for the program", consider that there are small universities who start all of their games at night. They don't get the recruits. Without the money from the TV networks, would we be able to buy stadium and practice facility upgrades that recruits care about? Would we have free advertising to our recruits? I don't know. Perhaps you could tell us. I know that most of these upgrades come from donations, but without the TV revenue, would we spend the donations on those things, or others?
2) Though we may have a little bit of clout in the ACC, we are one of 14 football schools that the ACC is trying to accommodate. They have a job to be fair to all of the schools, not just the ones that have most recently made them football money, because if they didn't, they'd lose schools left and right. Just 5 or 6 years ago, BC was in the top 10 football teams. Think they made the ACC a little money that year? Definitely. Just last year, we limped into our bowl game, and won one of the ugliest games I've ever watched. We know we're better than that as a program, but the ACC has dollar signs for eyes. If we play a game primetime, and we lose, it makes the ACC look like it's declining (we used to be the conferences premier team, and recently we haven't been media darlings). Given the inconsistency in performance from teams across the conference, the ACC cannot allow one school to dominate negotiations when signing long term, multi-million dollar contracts.
3) Let's pretend for a moment that you are absolutely 100% correct about this issue in every single way. Maybe even on EVERY ISSUE EVER REGARDING LIFE. Congrats are in order. You sir, have an intelligence higher than the rest of ours in this hypothetical model. Perhaps you even have a higher intelligence than the rest of us in real life. That said, one of the most important guidelines of this forum is to be respectful of others, AND their opinions. While you haven't used any offensive language or anything like that, you certainly haven't always been respectful of their opinions. Talking to people as if they are idiots isn't cool.
4) While completely realizing that this is a little hypocritical, and even undermines my own argument a little, I'm gonna go ahead and take the 15 yard personal foul. Though you may have envisioned yourself slaying the dragons that be your fellow TKPers opinion by pointing out his use of ad hominem and non-sequitor, I just have to say it's the cutest little thing I've ever seen. Most, if not all of use studied logical fallacies at some point high school, and are not going to bow down to your opinion because you know these terms.
Sorry that got a little sour at the end, I just prefer a more civil board, where even if someone is blatantly wrong, we discuss their opinions in an open and less condescending manner. /rant
When I try to get to basics you tell me I'm being condescending. Sorry for it, wasn't trying to be but, apparently communications via internet sound bite can be implied one way and inferred another. But if you'll check through the thread, it was a little bit more than 1 way here. You guys laid a pretty heavy layer of condescension on me, with enough of you doing it that I was beginning to feel a bit like Sims last Thursday.
So, between this and the news that Weaver did request A specific day and time of some games, I am correct. Weaver does have some influence on the game times. If he did not, there would be no avenue for the request.
Therefore, I can lay blame on the AD where even if he does not have the final say, his power of persuasion, at the very least, could hold sway.
It is you guys, telling me he has no power.
What was it my prof used to say?
Convince, connive, construct and contract. Those are the ways in which you get what you want. Weaver could use all those tools for a better start time. He's not a powerless pawn of the networks.
If you want to blame Weaver for anything - blame him for lack of Thursday night game this year. Blame him for the 1:30 default start for non-televised games. This accounts for a total of two games this year.
And give him some credit for setting up a match-up with Alabama.
He's not a powerless pawn of the networks
Yes he is.
We are part of the ACC. The ACC negotiated a TV contract with ESPN/ABC. Most likely they offered the most money out of all the networks. This is the only major network deal we have. (Unlike the SEC that has ESPN and CBS. The Big 12 and PAC 12 also have access to ESPN and Fox Sports).
The lack of prime-time Saturday night exposure is not just a VT problem, it is an ACC problem.
Other than the opening Saturday of the season (VT-Alabama, Clemson-Georgia - technically SEC games in ESPNs eyes) there hasn't been a single ACC team showcased on the ESPN/ABC network after 330 on a Saturday all season.
There wont be one this week and there wont be one next week.
Over these two weeks, there will a total of 12 games involving the other East coast conferences (SEC and Big 10) after 330 on ESPN/ABC. Gee, i wonder how ESPN feels about the ACC?
This weekends #25 Maryland @ #8 FSU game will kick off at NOON.
#10 LSU @ Miss State will be at 7PM #eSECpn
ESPN makes the weekly schedule. Once conference play starts, the espn family of networks televises almost all of the ACC games.
ESPN wants to dominate ratings all hours of the day Saturday - not just prime time.
Right now, ESPN feels that using ranked ACC teams as an appetizer for ranked SEC and Big Ten games at night is the best formula.
It sucks, but that's the way it is.
Read this to see who's making the real scheduling decisions. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/sports/ncaafootball/college-footballs-...
This is an ACC and ESPN issue. Its been that way for the last few years and it may continue to be that way in the future.
It will continue into the forseeable future because as part of the ACC's new television deal with ESPN, they packaged in the third tier game rights, which most conference's retain to either negotiate a second deal, as you have discussed above. The third tier games are the ones where VT ends up on ESPN3 that previous to this deal we would have actually been on television at least and it was many of these games that would have later start times because the schedule would not be controlled by ESPN. The third tier rights are the critical aspect of this deal as they include much more than just football as they also give away all our men's basketball games as well, http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2012/05/acc-on-espn-rights-agreement-specula...
The condescension you received was due to your improper use of sarcastica, or perhaps lack thereof. It's obvious that there are differing opinions on the quality of the contract, and that's okay. You're entitled to your view of the contract, and everyone else is entitled to their view of the contract. That said, asking people if they know how a contract works in the way in which you asked could possibly be conceived as insulting to intelligence. Perhaps it was meant in jest, or even just not intended to come across the way it did, but at some point your intentions and what people were reading were not the same thing. You're correct, when we write on the internet, it can sometimes be difficult to tell what a person means, but that's why we studied tone in english class right? Not everyone is going to read the same post the same way, so it's good to be careful, especially when trying to get to basics. Sometimes "getting down to basics" appears to be "you guys can't understand this concept, and so I'm going to continue to slam it into you with more and more basic answers", especially when you're asking them if they understand you after about 20 counterarguments. Nobody here is trying to be your condescending momma, but if people perceive that they've been talked down to (whether they actually have or not), they'll do the same right back.
But how does this effect Nike's online sales Darren Rovell of contracts?
How about everyone goes to the game and screams their nuts off for 60 minutes? That's fun no matter what time the game starts.
like the way you think
I'll be screaming my nuts off at 6am here in Hawaii!
I really like my nuts, so I'll be keeping them. I will, however, scream until I can't scream anymore for any of various reasons:
1. Until the game ends.
2. Until I lose my voice.
3. Until I'm tackled by the person getting annoyed by my constant screaming and standing.
4. Until I'm arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct.
5. Until I pass out.
6. Until I die because I've gotten a little bit older and my body can't take all the stuff I used to do at games while I was in college.
Don't be hating on noon kick off.
More time for me enjoy Hardee sausage biscuits and coffee before I head to Lane.
It is sarcasm. Carry on.
I hope everyone will eventually realize that this isn't necessarily a slight to VT as much as it is on the ACC and North Carolina. Carolina is, what, 1-3? That's the reason we're playing at noon on a channel that you have to pay extra for or know someone with access to it online via WatchESPN (thanks VTPhreak).
Thanks VTPhreak indeed. Currently watching MIA-NO on a clear, clean feed as opposed to the virus ridden, blurred as heck crap you would get on firstrowsports
Love that show. Can't wait for season two!
I'm not going to a noon game..ever. I want to get the tailgate at noon, get fuking drunk, smoke a pack of cigs, and lose my voice during the Hokie victory.
Or you could just start all of that at 7 like many of us.
To be honest, the biggest problem I have with noon kickoffs is that there just isn't enough time to tailgate. "Getting up earlier" isn't really a problem as we always try to be up and running by 8am regardless of what the gametime is
I just like how we always have early games, early in the season when it is usually hot outside, and later in the year we have later games when it can get pretty cold outside. Not that I really care about weather, just food for thought.
We usually have later games later in the season because we usually WIN and go into the later stages of the season ranked so having us on primetime out of all the ACC games is usually desireable. Right now we are probably fourth or fifth on the pecking order.....Clemson seems to be the darlings, Florida State is Florida State, and Miami is "back"....and right now the Turtles have broken into the rankings. If we want better game times, we need to play better teams and win because that's what ESPN is selling.
The only reason that Maryland/UVA is the 3:30 is because of the bigger TV market!