University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Thursday Night Lights Shine Brightly
September 8, 2008 | Football, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Sept. 8, 2008
By Adam Lucas
North Carolina hired Butch Davis to return the football program to national prominence. This week, that mission will get a little help from ESPN.
That network's Thursday night telecasts have become the college equivalent of the NFL's Monday Night Football. On Saturdays, college football fans have multiple TV game options from noon to midnight. But on Thursday, for fans--and, as coaches will tell you with a gleam in their eye, also recruits--there's only one choice.
This week, that choice features the Tar Heels traveling to Rutgers. It's a game that is packed with storylines: it's being played in the shadow of New York City on September 11 and will include a pregame moment of silence and a flyover; it's a meeting between Butch Davis and his former Miami defensive coordinator Greg Schiano; and given the preseason expectations, it just might be the biggest Carolina football game since a trip to Georgia Tech in 2001.
But it's also Carolina's first weeknight appearance since a disappointing 2006 trip to Virginia. In fact, it's been almost a decade since the program won a game on the Thursday stage, with the last victory coming against NC State in 1999. The school's overall record in the Thursday night spotlight is 3-2, with all three of the victories coming last decade.
On-campus logistics prevent Carolina from hosting weeknight games and therefore limit the exposure possibilities. But it's still telling that since the Tar Heels last played a Thursday night game, Atlantic Coast Conference teams have occupied over a dozen of the primetime slots. Every other team in the league except Duke and Virginia has appeared at least once in that timespan. Carolina's absence from that list--and, hopefully, an increase in future appearances--is a simple way to assess the program's recent Q rating.
"Thursday night games are for established programs and programs on the rise," said senior safety Trimane Goddard, who sat out the game because of an injury when Carolina made the ill-fated trip to Charlottesville in 2006.
It used to be that Thursday night games were scheduling nightmares and were sometimes eschewed by football royalty for that reason. But as they've become more commonplace, especially in the south (and it helps that this year the ACC office worked out the scheduling problems for all teams involved in Thursday games), they've become a launching pad into the nation's consciousness.
Rutgers is a prime example of that phenomenon. The Scarlet Knights are hosting a Thursday game for the third straight season. It's no coincidence that over that stretch the Knights have risen from a program that went to one bowl game in 131 seasons to a squad that has participated in three straight bowls. Part of that ascension has come on the backs of Thursday night success; in 2006 Rutgers defeated nationally third-ranked Louisville and last year they upset nationally second-ranked South Florida. The waiting list for Rutgers season tickets now stands at over 12,000.
"There are programs that have done a phenomenal job of capitalizing on national opportunities," Butch Davis said. "Anytime you get the chance to expose the rest of the country to what you're trying to do and the way your players play and the schemes you run, it attracts kids. This is part of that scenario."
Coaches are conscious of the recruiting and program benefits. Players, meanwhile, have a first-hand knowledge of the rhythm of a normal Saturday game week. That rhythm means that players across the country, no matter their conference affiliation, are likely to be watching the Tar Heels and Scarlet Knights on Thursday.
"I always watch the Thursday night game," said Garrett Reynolds. "It gets me more focused for my game. It's a good chance to get together with your teammates, eat some pizza, and relax and enjoy being a fan of college football."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
