Before I was in the media, night kickoffs used to be amazing. I could wake-up, get drunk, nap, and then get drunk again... all before the opening kickoff. But now that I "cover" games, I find myself nodding in agreement with Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen.
From Chris Vannini of CoachingSearch.com:
The schedule changes how we prepare because we play at, like, midnight every kickoff. It is hard,” Mullen said. “Our first two games, you expect they’ll still be going on past midnight, which is kind of ridiculous. But that’s just the way it is.
“That will change how we prepare closer to game week, because I’m usually asleep by then. I’ve got to be rocking and rolling in the fourth quarter. Our guys aren’t used to physically performing.”
[...]
“We used to train them at midnight in the summer, and the NCAA outlawed that,” he said. “You can’t do that anymore, but they’ll let us play after midnight, which is kind of ridiculous. … I guess we should petition the NCAA.
The SEC's MSU opens at Southern Miss on Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. LSU comes to Starkville the next week with a 8:15 p.m. kickoff.
Mullen might also want to direct some of his anger at two other entities covered in blood: His conference and the sport's puppet-master, the conglomerate we all love to hate: ESPN.
