Why is OU opening on a Friday? Why is OSU's opener at 1 p.m.? Why isn't the Big 12 staking a claim in Week 0?

Lots of talk about college football openers with Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel.

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It’s game week.

Or is it? 

Well, there are a smattering of college football games on Saturday — Florida State and Georgia Tech squaring off in Dublin is the biggest — but it’s hardly a robust slate. So, should we think of this as the opening week of the college season? More importantly, is there a chance for some conferences to make the weekend before Labor Day into a bigger deal?

And what about the Sooners’ and Cowboys’ openers? OU starts on a Friday. OSU opens with a 1 p.m. game. The first might seem odd, but the second seems downright insane.

I’m talking about all that and more with Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel on The Jenni Carlson Show.

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Episode highlights

1:30: With one big college game on the schedule, how should we think about this week?

2:42: Why the Big 12 could take advantage of Week 0.

7:54: OU playing its opener on a Friday: thumbs up or thumbs down?

10:17: Could OU opening on Friday become a regular occurrence?

12:41: An opener a few years back on a Sunday. Now, a Friday. Is this evidence OU athletic director Joe Castiglione has been abducted by aliens?

15:00: OSU is kicking off its opener at 1 p.m. Why???

18:10: The kickoff time was a decision above Mike Gundy’s paygrade. Oh, really?

18:50: The weather forecast from Brookings, South Dakota, home of the Jackrabbits.

21:45: Where do the opening opponents for OU and OSU rank on Berry’s frustration meter in his battle against bad non-conference games?

Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove

Creative Director: Michael Lane

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Transcript

Jenni: Well, Berry, it is opening week. Or not. We've got one biggish game for college football this week. Florida State-Georgia Tech. Are you thinking about this as opening week or not?

Berry: Well, I'm going to take a cue from our high school friends who I thought ingeniously came up with the Week 0 concept, which is you can play an early game and not everybody will and we're not going to call it Week 1 because of the majority type situation, not enough teams play. So, in the past few years, we've had four or five games on this Week 0. So I think I'll call it Week 0.

I'm just lamenting the fact that we can't ever get one of our teams involved in this. You know, you're too young to remember this, Jacko, but there was a time where we would have some early games like this. Even, you know, like in the ‘90s, Oklahoma played Northwestern in Soldier Field on like August 24th or 25th, whatever it was. So a few specialty games were played and I guess that's what we'd count this Dublin situation as.

Jenni: Why don't we have more Week 0 games in college football? Why wouldn't, say, the Big 12 or the ACC possibly try to take advantage of having a more open TV windows for games?

Berry: I think it's a great idea. I think you get push back on legislation because of the same thing. It's always held the NCAA back; some schools with limited budgets don't want to open camps early, don't want to have to feed and house the players any more than they do. Although that's become sort of a non-issue with year-round college football, which is what we have. I think that's probably what it is, but I do think that is a viable option. I think coaches would be interested in it. Players, I think, are already on campus, might as well start playing but get an extra off week in October or September, whenever you might want to schedule it. I think that's got some validity and I think the TVs would love it.

Your part of your suggestion about the Big 12 and ACC, that's the kind of cracks in the schedule that they need to find and places they can stake a claim and add some value when they don't have as many marquee programs. So I like it. You know, next year, Iowa State and K-State are playing in the Dublin game. I wish it was Oklahoma State instead of one of those two instead of Farmageddon, but that Dublin game has intrigued people. Notre Dame and Navy and Nebraska, Northwestern, those kinds of games have been played.

Jenni: This would have been the year for the Big 12 to do this. But you've got these four new schools. Why not roll out two games, four games? Don't have them play each other. Have them play another conference foe. That would be an eye opener. People would be paying attention to the Big 12 if they said, ‘Hey, we're going to have Colorado play K-State this week. We're going to have Arizona play Texas Tech this week.’ People would sit and watch that. That could be anywhere from two to four game windows the Big 12 could really take advantage of.

Berry: I think that that would have been a great idea. You know, I tried to get Brett Yormark, and he liked the idea, to start the ‘23 season with the four newcomers, Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF against legacy Big 12 members. He liked the idea, but you know, I don't know that anybody on the football level wanted to sign off on it. But that's the kind of things you need to do. Promotion. That's something you could do next week, but Week 0 is even better. Yeah, I'm all for it.

One thing we do have, it's getting so dang hot. You know, what was it in Oklahoma City yesterday? 105, Jacko?

Jenni: I think it was 107.

Berry: My goodness. So, at some point we got to start thinking about that and especially can't be playing day games. When we get to Norman and Stillwater here on opening week, we need a relief from the weather. We can't be having any of this 105, 107 stuff, but it's hot anytime in August. So I do think marketing is an issue here. And I do think it's something that they need to do. And for whatever reason, the National Football League does not want to start on Labor Day weekend. They want to give that massive weekend to the college game and the college game is saying fine. So anything before the Wednesday or Thursday after Labor Day is open range for the colleges. I'd take as much advantage of that as possible.

Jenni: Yeah, and the thing about the Big 12 is they've expanded to the point now where they've got some spots where hot temperatures aren't a concern. You can play in Provo, Utah. You can play in Salt Lake City. You can play in Boulder. You could even play in Morgantown, West Virginia and probably escape it a little bit.

Berry: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's exactly right. And you know, the nights aren't terrible. So get some night games

Jenni: Big 12 after dark!

Berry: Big 12 after dark. You could play some late night games. Get that 9:30 Central window. Kicking off early, a week or two early. So yeah, a lot of options when you have this big of a conference. So take advantage of it. I'm with you. By all means.

Getting people to Ireland, I think is fantastic. So kudos to the Wildcats and the Cyclones.

Jenni: You just want to go to Ireland on a trip to cover football.

Berry: I do want to go to Ireland. I do want to go to Ireland.

Jenni: We're still a week away from the true opening week here. Week 1. OU deciding to open against Temple on a Friday. Are you thumbs up or thumbs down on the Friday game, Berry?

Berry: I'm OK with it. The reason I'm OK with it is I'm pretty sure it was going to be a day game. If the Sooners had played on Saturday. We saw that with that Houston game when they played on Sunday night. I think it was five years ago, 2019.

It's not ideal. It infringes on the high schools, although it's Week 0 in the high schools. So the high schools have gone non-traditional and created this logger jam. And so have the colleges by playing on a Friday night. I was just talking over in Tulsa, Bixby and Owasso, two of the premier programs, play that Friday night. And it's a huge game. They were hoping for a massive crowd. I tend to think they will still get a massive crowd. It is Temple. They're not playing, you know, LSU. They're not playing Michigan. They're playing Temple. Kickoff at 6, over by 6:20 kind of game. So I think if you really want to see really good football, I think you'd probably go to Bixby-Owasso. 

On the other hand, playing at six o 'clock, whether you're at Owen Field in Norman or whether you're in Tulsa County at one of the high school cathedrals, it's gonna be so hot on August 30. You might just stay home no matter which game you were gonna go to. So I don't think it's ideal and I don't think you would do it except on a season opener like this. Joe Castiglione told me back in the spring when this was announced, he said, ‘This would be not something we do first or second, third week of the high school season, but it is Week 0. It affects a relatively small percentage of the schools.’ So they thought it was worth it. And I can tell you the fans, I think, appreciate it because an 11 a.m. or even a 2:30 kickoff on Augsut 31st is just not very tenable.

Jenni: We're going to talk about midday kickoffs in a second. Also, Joe Castiglione in a second. But I know OU people might not like to think of it in these terms, but OU is kind of following an OSU model for Labor Day weekend here. We've seen Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy go to Friday games with their opener, gives them a longer week before that second game, but it also allows students to go to the game, fans to go to the game and then to have the Labor Day weekend. I don't know if this is necessarily a question of getting fans to OU for the game. I mean, that's never been a problem for OU football for the last quarter century. But this is kind of following that model. Is this the type of thing that if it goes great, maybe OU tries to do it on a regular basis?

Berry: Well, I doubt they want to do it on a regular basis, but I do think it could go great because you're right, it does create a better weekend experience for the fans. Let's say you're a college kid from Dallas or Abilene or wherever. If you got a Saturday afternoon or a Saturday night game and you want to go to the game, you want to be a proud student, all that kind of stuff. Well, the game’s over, say it's a night game, game’s over at 10 o'clock on Saturday. You're not going anywhere. So then all of a sudden, you’ve got to leave Sunday morning, be back Monday night. That's not much of a weekend. But if you can leave Saturday morning, be back Monday night, that's a packed full weekend. So I think there are things to like about that.

I also think this creates a good weekend for just regular fans. You know, Oklahoma is a lake state. Lots and lots of Oklahomans enjoy going, spending holidays at the lake. If you're a season-ticket holder in Norman and Stillwater, and you've got a ball game on Saturday or Saturday night, getting to the lake for Labor Day weekend is not as appealing because of the short timeframe. Play on Friday night or Thursday night, like what OSU has done quite a bit, you can have yourself a pretty good weekend. So I think it appeals to those fans.

And like I said, the idea of playing at night is maybe the best because you just don't want to sit out in that August sun any more than you have to.

Jenni: No doubt, no doubt. Speaking of Joe Castiglione, you mentioned him a second ago. OU did open on Sunday a few years ago, now opening on Friday. For years — years, Berry! — we've heard that OU wanted no part of non-Saturday games. Are we to assume Joe C got abducted by aliens or what is happening here?

Berry: OU was adamant. ‘We're not playing on a weekday.’ Now Sunday was different, but a weekday. But a couple of things happened. The sooner administration agreed to let out school on Friday. So, employees, I think, are getting off on noon on Friday. They want to clear the campus for the incoming hordes because you got to put all those cars somewhere.

And the other thing is, this was two evils going at it. The bane of OU's existence, if you're an athletic administrator, has been those 11 a.m. kickoffs. They just hear about it and hear about it and hear about it from the fan base. Not all fans dislike them. A lot of fans like it. Especially if you sort of live semi-close to the Oklahoma City metro, you know, you can get to the game on Saturday morning and you get home and you still got yourself a Saturday evening and Saturday night and it works okay. But the majority of fans don't like the atmosphere. They don't like the pregame, having to get to campus at 9 in the morning, those kinds of things. It's great for writers with a deadline, but I have to say, the atmosphere is not as good as a night game. So I understand all those different, all those different takes. And I just think OU has spent the last 10, 12 years just hearing about it from their fan base. And they seek solutions, and this was one of the solutions. I think a Friday night game, it's not a necessary evil, but it was sort of a tonic that they could swallow. So they'll see how it goes. They won't do it often, but I think they are open to it on occasion now.

Jenni: Well, I know from our perspective, it's great because we can go to both.

Berry: Yes. Yes.

Jenni: We can see OU play on Friday, OSU play on Saturday. But as you said, day kickoffs the last weekend of August, Labor Day weekend, are not exactly all that exciting for fans, but that's what OSU fans gets as they get ready to open against South Dakota State on the more traditional Saturday, but they're kicking off, Berry, at 1 p.m. Ugh. I almost don't want to think about the temperatures that we're going to be enduring, but let me just ask you this. Why? Why the 1 p.m. kickoff?

Berry: It's because OSU collectively and individually, Mike Gundy, fears the Jackrabbits. You go, you schedule yourself a South Dakota State and you’ve got to think, ‘Well, that's the one game we can control. That's the one game we can get an automatic victory’. And then lo and behold, South Dakota State turns into a national power on the I-AA level. They've won two straight Football Championship Series national titles. That's the FCS. That's Division I-AA. It's the division with 63 scholarships instead of 85. It's the low majors. When we say mid-majors and you talk about low majors, this is them.

But South Dakota State is not a typical low major. They're not a typical I-AA program. North Dakota State, I think the bison have won, I think, it's seven of the last 11 national titles. And then South Dakota State’s won the last two. Just happened this morning to scroll down some of the administrative staff directory of South Dakota State. And it looks like a Division I-A program in terms of how many medical personnel, how many communication people, how many assistant coaches, all those things. This is not a threadbare organization. OU’s opening with Temple. I think South Dakota State would clean Temple’s clock, and Mike Gundy, Mike's pretty placid in interviews, just sort of folksy and that kind of thing. I'll bet he's hit the roof in private meetings with OSU administrators saying, ‘Why did you schedule these guys?’

South Dakota can get hot. I mean, you're from Northern Kansas. You know, it's not tropical. The summers aren't 73 and breezy either. I mean, it gets hot and it gets hot in South Dakota, but it doesn't get this hot. It wasn't 106 yesterday in South Dakota. So I think Mike Gundy is trying to burn them up. I mean, I think he's trying to win this game in the first quarter, get these guys overheated and everything else. I think he's saying, ‘Let's play at 1 o 'clock. We'll practice in the heat of the day and see if they can keep up.’ And to me, it's a sign of respect for South Dakota State that Gundy wants to play in the heat of the day.

Jenni: I actually asked Gundy about this 1 o'clock kick last week and he said it was above his pay grade. To which I say, Whose pay grade is higher than yours, my friend? I'm not buying that, Berry. You're not buying that, are you?

Berry: (Laughing) Who's above his pay? Who gets paid more? What state employee gets paid more than Mike Gundy? I think Venables maybe. I mean, did Brent Venables make this decision, for crying out loud?

It's above his pay grade. Coaches need to get rid of that. That's a bad usage of the word. Cause all of a sudden our antennas go up and the spotlight comes on and say, ‘Who gets paid more? Who's above your pay grade?’

Jenni: You were talking about temperatures, and I looked. As we tape here on Monday, the high in Brookings, South Dakota, where our good friend the Jackrabbits are, the high will be 82 degrees. And while that sounds heavenly here, the high Tuesday is only 70 in Brookings.

Berry: Man! Basically, we're talking about a 20-degree difference, and that's probably about right. We need to get the biologist to tell us how much of a difference that makes. But OSU is a team with quite a bit of depth. You know, it's not a superstar-laden roster, but they got a lot of depth. So I got to believe OSU will be rotating a lot of linemen in and out, a lot of the receivers, whoever.

The one thing about I-AA programs, they don't have the depth of the I-A programs. So yeah, I think that's a massive advantage for OSU. And I'm just hard pressed to see where the Jackrabbits can be the threat that Gundy fears they might be.

But they do have a spectacular program. Gundy used to say when they brought Brigham Young into the league, he said, ‘Well, that's a Power Five program. They just didn't happen to be in a Power Five league.’ I think we can say the same thing about South Dakota State. That's a Division I-A program. They just happened to be in I-AA.

Jenni: By the way, long0term forecast says the highest high in Brookings before the Jackrabbits come south for that game is 87. So, you know, a little toasty for South Dakota. Now, that long range forecast also says game day in Stillwater, high of 92. So not the 107 we've seen here recently. But still, it's going to be an adjustment that I'm not sure you can make, especially the humidity, Berry. Let's be honest. We've had some humidity that I'm not sure they ever have in South Dakota.

Berry: You know, our humidity is not outlandishly bad. Go down to the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf Coast to see what that's really like. But we do have some pretty, pretty thick humidity at times, and it should trump what they've got up in the Dakotas.

Here's the deal. If it's going to be high in 92 on August 31, I'm not a gambler. I really don't know how the gaming deal goes, but I think if somebody said, ‘Here's a 92. You want to pass or play?’ I'm going to say, ‘I'll hold, I'll hold. Give me 92, and I'll be happy right now.’

Jenni: No doubt. Hey, last thing. These matchups, non-conference games, your war against bad non-conference games is well documented. Where do these opponents, the quality or lack thereof, where do they sort of rank on your frustration meter?

Berry: Well, South Dakota state frustrates me because it's I-AA. In some ways, these are immoral games. I don't like fifth graders playing fourth graders. That doesn't really set well with me. That kind of thing. But South Dakota State's intriguing because they're not just a team out there, you know, trying to find their shoulder pads. I mean, they know what they're doing. They're really good. They got a great program, long-time success. This will be a nice test for OSU. So I guess the way to say it is, if you're going to play a lower level team, play one like this. And of course, you know, OSU would say, ‘How about we just play South Dakota instead of South Dakota State?’

Temple is an unfortunate opponent for OU in that there've been times the Owls have been fairly competitive. You know, Matt Rhule coached there, what, 10 years ago, eight years ago, and did a nice job and got the Baylor job and did a very good job. And they've had some decent teams in the last 20 years, but they're not very good now. They haven't been very good. They don't have a lot of resources. Their facilities are not great. I looked through their website this morning and what I said about South Dakota, the opposite is true of Temple. You can sort of tell this is a one-sided situation independent of how good the football players are. So that's an example of teams that nobody in the SEC, nobody in the Big 12, nobody in the Big Ten ought to be playing. You know, Temple doesn't even have its own football field. They play at the Eagles’ stadium. Crowds are 5,000. That kind of thing. This is an unfair fight.

Most I-AA opponents like South Dakota State are unfair fights. Maine is coming to Norman in November. I've stood on the football field in Orano, Maine. Had my picture made by Trish the Dish. So I've been in their stadium, and it is an upgrade over what we've got down here at Norman High School. It would rank over several or many Oklahoma high school football stadiums. That's not going to be a pretty site, but that's what we've got. I'm hoping it changes, but for now, we're going to have to live with it. And I do say South Dakota State's an intriguing opponent. I will give it up to OSU for playing the Jackrabbits.

Jenni: Which Mike Gandy would say, ‘Eh, we'll pass.’

Berry: Yeah, yeah. ‘Give me temple.’ That's what Mike says.

Jenni: ‘Send Temple up the road Saturday.’ All right, before I let you get out of here, Berry, tell us what you got coming up in the Tulsa World.

Berry: We got our football preview coming Sunday, talking about the brave new world, most intriguing college football season, probably on record. If not, since the forward pass was legalized in 1906. So, the playoff expanded to 12, the super conferences have arrived, Oklahoma and Texas in the SEC, OSU in the Big 12 with a bunch of strangers and a few old familiar faces. Just a crazy, crazy new time in college football.