- Utah hosts Texas Tech on Sept. 20 in a Big 12 opener.
- The game, starting at 10 a.m. MDT, is Utah's first early kickoff.
- Utah's morning win rate is 88.9%, higher than afternoon or evening games.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football will experience a first as a Power Four member on Saturday, Sept. 20, when the team hosts Texas Tech in a game that could have significant conference implications.
On Monday, the Big 12 opener was selected to fill the "Big Noon Saturday" time slot at 10 a.m. MDT (12 p.m. EDT) in what will be the first-ever game played that early at Rice-Eccles Stadium since Utah started to compete in a power conference in 2011.
As such, the "Big Noon Kickoff" morning show by FOX, which is a rival of ESPN's College GameDay, is expected to officially announce a visit to the university for that Saturday morning later this week.
(Maybe even College GameDay, too?)
The game will position Utah to be in a prime viewing opportunity against a school who was in the national spotlight all offseason for the money it has pumped into the program in an effort to win more games.
It will also feature Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt on the game broadcast, with Jenny Taft as the sideline reporter.
In short, it's FOX's top game of the day.
"We have no problem playing early in the day; just tell us what time kickoff is and we will be there," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Our fans are awesome and will show the country the home-field advantage that Rice-Eccles Stadium is known for. Obviously, we'll have a big TV audience in that time slot, so that's great exposure for our program."
It's a great opportunity for Utah to showcase itself, especially if Whittingham's team comes away with a win to start conference play.
The game time announcement, though, was not met with full celebration from the fan base on Monday.
Though Utahns love their college football, Saturdays are often filled with many other activities, like youth sports, that make it difficult for fans to attend early-morning games.
There's also a bit of belief that Utah plays better at night — or at least the vibes from night games are different, which impacts winning.
A quick look back will have many fans reminiscing about night games against Oregon and USC and the environment the dark provided as proof — it's tough to disagree with those.
But has the dark — or evening games, more specifically — provided an advantage to the Utes or is it solely a vibe check? Let's jump into the numbers ...
Since 2011, Utah has played 105 games at 5 p.m. or later, and an additional 52 games played in the afternoon. Only nine games have been played before noon in that same time span.
So what's the win percentage?
- Morning: 88.9%
- Afternoon: 59.6%
- Evening: 63.8%
It's a smaller sample size, for sure, but the morning has been much nicer to Utah over the last 15 seasons than either the evening of afternoon time slots. Of those nine games, though, only three have been played at Rice-Eccles Stadium, with one being played against an FCS school.
More specifically, Utah has won 100% of its games (five) in the 11 a.m. hour and 75% of games (four) in the 10 a.m. hour.
Outside of the morning time slot, the best times for Utah over the years has been in the 12 p.m. hour, with a total win percentage of 80% in 10 games, followed by 6 p.m. (76.2%) in 21 games, and 4 p.m. (71.4%) in seven games.
The worst time to play for Utah? That'd be the 1 p.m. hour, with Utah winning only 42.1% in 19 games, with either the 3 p.m. or 9 p.m. hour coming up next, with both time slots only returning a 50% win percentage in a combined six games. Outside of that, the 5 p.m. hour (54.2%) hasn't been as kind in 24 games, nor has the 8 p.m. hour (62.5%) in 48 games.
There's many more factors than the game time that impact winning, obviously, but maybe there's something to playing in the morning as opposed to the afternoon or evening. If Whittingham had it his way, he'd play a game at 5 a.m. so he doesn't have to wait around all day.
Regardless of your favored time slot, the university welcomes the prime opportunity, with Utah athletic director Mark Harlan calling it a "tremendous opportunity."
"Thanks to FOX and the Big 12 for giving us this stage to amplify our incredible football program and this great university," Harlan said. "Our awesome fans will be firing up their grills bright and early — they'll just be mixing in some omelets and pancakes on their tailgate menus. We look forward to a fantastic day on campus."
So get your breakfast menus planned now, and maybe tell your kids it's not their turn next Saturday because you're busy. Tell them the math backs up your need to be at Rice-Eccles Stadium that day.
