University of North Carolina Athletics
Brewer: Open Dates, Television And Hopefully No Problems
October 30, 2001 | Football
Oct. 30, 2001
By Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus
Football coaches once regarded opened dates with about as much excitement as a hitter does facing Randy Johnson.
For years coaches have felt open dates broke the rhythm of a season. If their teams were having a great year, they didn't want to change the weekly routine. If a team was struggling badly, the coach would like to end the year as quickly as possible and hit the recruiting trails.
That has generally changed the last few falls with schools now playing 11 and sometimes 12-game regular-season schedules. Some teams, such as Oklahoma this year, for example, even could play 13 regular-season games if the Sooners reach the Big XII championship game.
A week off is needed, and usually scheduled, to give players a break from a what is a very physical and demanding sport.
Some would say the open date Carolina had last Saturday came at a bad time. The Tar Heels have won five in a row and the momentum that has been building in this stretch could be lost.
However, regardless of what happens when the Tar Heels face Georgia Tech in Atlanta Thursday night, this break came at a good time.
Because of the pre-season game with Oklahoma, the Tar Heels have a 12-game schedule. After eight games, another break is needed. Because of the events of September 11, the team got an unscheduled open date the following weekend. In fact, it was after that layoff that Carolina stunned Florida State to begin its winning streak.
This open date will be shorter, but helps because the Tar Heels have a number of players with injuries who need time to heal. Quarterback Ronald Curry is the most obvious player in that group, but several others have been nursing minor injuries or simply have the bumps and bruises that naturally come with the sport.
The 10-day break allowed the players a couple of days off and then to once again go over basic fundamentals. It also gave coaches an opportunity to spend more time with younger players who aren't playing, especially the red-shirt freshmen. It's difficult to do much teaching with this group during the season as preparing the regulars for upcoming games is the primary goal each week.
In addition, an open date allows coaches time for recruiting. This is something that's being worked on constantly, but can be emphasized even more without a game on Saturday.
Another break will follow the game with the Yellow Jackets before the season-ending run against Wake Forest, Duke and SMU.
This particular open date is a result of ESPN televising the showdown with Tech on Thursday night.
At least, I assume the network is still televising the game.
Last week's Miami-West Virginia contest was switched to ESPN 2 with ESPN showing some NFL game which probably no one can remember.
I just hope this is not a sign of things to come for college football on ESPN.
A couple of years ago when the network acquired a Sunday night pro football package, it moved its regular major league baseball game to ESPN 2. This came in September when each baseball game had taken on greater importance as the season was coming to an end and pennant races were being decided.
Baseball complained bitterly, which it should have done. The network's response was that ESPN 2 was in almost as many homes as ESPN and the switch wouldn't harm its baseball coverage.
That may have been true, but it showed how the network felt about pro football. It may well have led to baseball awarding all its' post-season action to Fox this year. That has not been successful with half the games being broadcast on FoxNet and two key Sunday night games even being scheduled opposite each other due to Fox's commitment to pro football.
However, those are other stories. Still they serve as examples of how networks view pro football. Many of us who follow college athletics have little regard for pro football. The best thing I can say about it is at least it keeps ice hockey off the air.
At least pro football is split only two ways on Sunday afternoons. Last weekend ABC was able to televise a much more interesting two hours of figure skating opposite the NFL.
But, the concern for colleges may be the Thursday night games. ESPN has already arranged a package of games for Friday nights, which could be a blow to high school football in many areas.
There has also been at least one Tuesday night college game.
Hopefully, these are simply additions to the regular Thursday-night package. Many schools don't like to play even on Thursday, but the games are good programming for college football fans.
And perhaps the Friday night games will continue to focus mainly on West Coast schools or teams from leagues which don't normally attract a lot of TV coverage.
Unlike a number of university administrators and even some fans, I don't have a major problem with Thursday night games. They provide added revenue for athletic programs that badly need it to help in budgets that must handle anywhere from 20 to 40 sports.
This may all be simple conjecture. I have no idea if ESPN is hoping to secure a series of NFL games on Thursdays and then shifting its college games to Fridays and even Tuesdays. But, what's happened this year appears to some like groundwork for that possibility. If so, the network should remember its roots.
When ESPN was trying to get off the ground in the early 1980's, it was college basketball and college football that provided it with programming. That's how the network was able to attract viewers and subsequently advertising dollars.
Then major league baseball was added to its schedule and ESPN has done a great job of televising all three.
Hopefully, its decision-makers will remember that.
If not, open dates due to Thursday night games may disappear and schools will simply schedule breaks in their schedules as needed for their own reasons.
