This is the time of year when we remember why and how much we love college football. It’s our big slobbering basset hound. But we forget how dumb it can be.
Thank you, USC-Michigan State start time, for a reminder.
The Spartans (3-0) and No. 25 Trojans (3-0) will meet Saturday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with an official kickoff time of 8:05 p.m. local. That’s 11:05 p.m. in East Lansing, Mich., the home of Michigan State University. That’s a great way to remind everyone of the ills of expansion and the Big Ten’s most recent TV deal, and of how little fans matter in college sports decisions anymore.
The customer’s always right? Nah, man, the customer’s snoring loudly.
According to the MSU Alumni Association, the school has 550,500 living alums, about 306,000 in Michigan and about 423,000 in the Eastern time zone. And that’s just alums. A study by The Athletic in April did not place MSU among the top 12 largest fan bases, but a 2022 study from marketing research firm SBRnet estimated 2.93 million fans of the Spartans, sixth-most in the nation and third-most in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and Penn State.
Regardless: It’s a whole bunch of people. Most of them are trying to figure out how, exactly, they’ll be able to stay up until close to 3 a.m. Sunday in the event of a close game. Little kids, the people all sports leagues should be thinking about as they distribute their “inventory,” sure won’t make it. Anyone older than about 25 who isn’t artificially in a different time zone because of a work schedule will need to take serious measures.
it’s gonna be a late one folks pic.twitter.com/1FeJ2zhlqQ
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) September 8, 2025
Jolt Cola? Self pinching and/or slapping? Toothpicks to prop open the eyes, a homemade version of that scene in “A Clockwork Orange?” A big nap? That’s a bit more reasonable. But who wants to nap with all that college football on TV? And who’s going to walk the dog?
Sure, college students are night owls by nature. The packed bar in the college town living and dying with every play as the home team plays on the road is a great American sports scene. But the East Lansing bars will give last call and turn on those unforgiving lights around 1:45 a.m. The third quarter will just be making way for the fourth quarter.
What do you expect these kids to do? Have enough charge in their phones to stream the Fox broadcast finish while waiting in line for their 7,500 calories’ worth of pizza/burritos/chili cheese fries? This sounds like the recipe for an uptick in post-bar brawls. Add that to your conscience, college sports leaders.
There is good news for the 517 registered Michigan State alums living in Thailand. As someone who lives in the Central time zone, I can tell you that the 11 a.m. college football kickoff is absolutely perfect. That’s when they’ll get MSU-USC in Bangkok — throw some moo ping on the grill and let the Mekhong flow!
The Big Ten did not respond to a request for comment on the decision, whether anyone protested and how many other of the league’s Eastern time zone fan bases may face the prospect of throwing off body clocks for weeks to watch a football game. That’s fine. As long as it doesn’t mean everyone is too busy figuring out how to spin commissioner Tony Petitti’s newest College Football Playoff idea, a 60-team field with 17 auto bids for the Big Ten, setting up a gigantic 2026 play-in game between bitter rivals Rutgers and UCLA for the final spot.
Speaking of Rutgers and UCLA, this has happened before. Last year, in fact. Two Big Ten games had 11 p.m. (ET) starts, one of them Oregon at UCLA. This made geographic sense, even if the league doesn’t at all. The other was Rutgers at USC on a Friday after a World Series game on Fox. It will happen again, but not often. This one came about because Fox had the third choice Saturday after CBS took Michigan-Nebraska and NBC grabbed Illinois-Indiana.
Fox, which isn’t allowed to air a Big Ten game against CBS or NBC (which has the Illini and Hoosiers in prime time), went for strong brands requiring strong coffee to watch. Tough break, Spartans fans. Also, tough break, Trojans student-athletes — a week later, you’ll be lining up for kickoff at 9 a.m. (PT) at Illinois to supply that all-important “Big Noon Kickoff” content for Fox.
It’s all so dumb. And if it’s damaging over the long haul, this willingness to let TV executives treat college sports people like “Candyland” board pieces, the folks who allowed it will have cashed their chips in and scurried away by then.
On the less cynical side: The Big Ten will be offering up around 15 straight hours of football Saturday and into Sunday. This won’t seem so bad once Jayden Maiava and Aidan Chiles start zipping passes around the Coliseum.
Until you wake up on the couch just before dawn, have to search up the final score and realize the dog tipped over the trash can again.
(Photo of Aidan Chiles: Nick King / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
