Advertisement
football Edit

Stanford vs. Washington State kickoff time announced

On Monday, the kickoff time for Stanford’s November 5th home game against Washington State was announced: 12:30 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KNBR 1050 AM radio.

Stanford got a lot of late night kickoffs to start the year, but the law of averages is starting to come around to their side as they get another early afternoon kickoff after having one against Arizona State at home this past weekend. They will have a late night kickoff at UCLA this weekend, but they can take some comfort in knowing when they come back from Pasadena, they’ll get another early kickoff the following Saturday.

As I’ve said previously, it is good for there to be an even distribution of kickoff times for all teams in the Pac-12. You don’t want one team to get a disproportionate amount of games at any given time slot. Especially when talking about late night versus early afternoon. The mid-afternoon kickoffs around 4:30/5:00 PM aren’t really all that controversial and if anything are probably the kickoff time most teams would prefer. They’re the sweet spot for television.

But when it comes to late night versus early afternoon, there is a distinct difference in terms of temperature, wind, and sunlight, all of which have real effects on the game. Football is a game that is played in the elements and some teams might do better at one time of day than the other.

And it’s not just in football. In baseball, the game is a bit faster in the daytime with more home runs on average whereas in the nighttime, home runs aren’t as frequent as the colder air makes it harder for the ball to get the same kind of lift as it would in a higher temperature. So, when you consider all this, it really is important for teams who play outdoor sports to have as even of a distribution of start times as possible.

In addition to the players and coaches, one benefactor of this afternoon kickoff could be the Stanford tree. Recent scientific studies have concluded that trees actually do relax more in the nighttime and enter a state that is similar to what we would call sleeping. In the daytime, trees are more active and not in as much of a relaxed state as they are at night. It’s possible that Stanford will have a more active tree on the sidelines to cheer them on.

All kidding aside, it is good Stanford is finally getting some day games after all these night games. Just from a competitive balance standpoint. People may not think much of them getting a bunch of night games, but it really wouldn’t be fair for them if things didn’t start to even out as they appear to be doing.

To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.

To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.

Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com

Advertisement