TAE to Mizzou: No More Night Games

I got curious, because lately my alma mater, Mizzou, has been seeming to lose every game...and every game has seemed to be late at night. So I crunched the numbers:
Since the start of the 2007 season until this Mizzou has played in 30 regular season contests, two Big 12 Championship games, and 2 bowl games. Their combined record in these 34 contests is 26 wins and 8 losses.

Of those 26 wins, 18 were day games and 8 were night games (by night game I mean a contest with a kickoff on or after 8:00 pm CST). This is an uninteresting statistic. What is an interesting statistic is that Mizzou is 8-7 in night games played; they've lost 8 games since the start of the 2007 season and all but one (against Kansas, kickoff time 6:40 pm) were started at or after 8:00 pm CST. So they lost almost half their night games, but THEY HAVE ONLY LOST ONE DAY GAME IN THREE YEARS (including post-season play)!

Mizzou: stop playing night games!

Now there are conflicting issues here. One could reasonably argue that evening games have a more lucrative audience and therefore generate more revenue for the networks and potentially better exposure for the teams in their recruiting efforts. Conversely, one could argue that if you win more games, you'll draw the networks to your team whatever time you decide to play. The University of Florida could play on Tuesday on the Moon and ESPN would be there. I do not personally know who decides the time each football contest shall be held. I do know it isn't decided preseason, as tickets list kickoff time as "TBD".
But Mizzou's 2007 season, after which they signed super-hyped, mega-quarterback Blaine Gabbert, was an outstanding 11-1 season capped by a strong Bowl victory over Arkansas and Darren McFadden. That season, their only regular season loss was a 6:40pm kickoff at Oklahoma. Would Mizzou have had an undefeated season in 2007 had they played Oklahoma earlier in the day? Statistics point to "yes." And one has to wonder...during that game Mizzou led at the end of the third quarter, which occurred about 8:30 pm. Did the evening game curse catch up to Mizzou in the fourth quarter?!

Mizzou: stop scheduling night games.

UPDATE: this week Mizzou plays at No.3 Texas...kickoff time is 8:00 pm.


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