Nebraska football has apparently aligned itself with a B1G terrified of vampires
Gene Smith and a shocking number of Big 10 administrators (thankfully outside of Nebraska football’s Trev Alberts) have a thing against playing night games at a level that makes me think they might have been better suited to have lived during an age before electricity.
Vampires aren’t real, okay Gene Smith? I promise that if Ohio State plays a night game in November, the worst thing that might happen is a loss. Not a loss of life, or immortal souls, but just an “L” on the score sheet.
Considering comments, the Buckeyes’ AD made to Eleven Warriors, it appears he’s going to take some convincing of that fact.
Ohio State takes on Michigan State at The Show on November 11 this season. It appears Smith believes that’s the last November night game that OSU is going to commit to in the foreseeable future. That’s newsworthy because quite a bit has been made about the new Big 10 deal with CBS including the promise of October and November night games.
Not long after the report surfaced about certain Big 10 teams balking at playing night games, Alberts made it clear that Nebraska football isn’t scared to play night games in November, or December or any time.
But Smith doubled down on Wednesday. He cited “individual tolerances” for why he felt like Ohio State could part ways with Nebraska football and others and completely refuse to play any more late-season games in the dark.
What Smith and several other Big 10 ADs don’t seem to understand is just how bad their refusal makes the conference look. The B1G is already a conference that has a PR problem when it comes to how they match up against the other Power 5 conferences around the country, especially the SEC.
Ironically, Ohio State helped its conference take a step forward last season when it almost knocked off eventual national champion Georgia. Now they’re acting like being out after dark is the scariest thing that a college football team could encounter.
It’s not a good look for Ohio State. It’s not a good look for the Big 10. And it’s not a good look for Nebraska football to be associated with a conference so weirdly stubborn about this kind of thing.