Late kickoffs rankle Washington coach
When Washington hosts Cal on Saturday, it will be the Huskies’ sixth straight game with a kickoff later than 5 p.m.
According to Washington head coach Chris Petersen, that’s six too many.
“I just want to say something to our fans: ‘We apologize for these late games,’ ” he said during his weekly news conference Monday. “And, I’d also like to reiterate it has nothing to do with us or the administration. We want to play at 1 o’clock.
“It hurts us tremendously, in terms of national exposure. No one wants to watch our game on the East Coast that late, and we all know it.”
At No. 6, Washington (5-0) is the highest-ranked team from the Pac-12. But Washington easily could be left out of the four-team College Football Playoff.
The 7:45 p.m. kickoff for Cal and Washington was announced by ESPN on Sunday afternoon, after Fox selected the Washington State-Oregon game for its 5 p.m. slot. Of their final six games, only two of the Huskies’ kickoff times have been announced: 7:45 p.m. Oct. 14 at Arizona State and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Stanford.
“I don’t think they care about my voice, or probably any of the coaches’ voices,” Petersen said. “I don’t think there is one coach out there, or probably any school in the West, that wants to play our games at late night and all of that.
“Everyone wants to play in the daytime.”
The Pac-12 is in the sixth year of a 12-year, $3 billion TV deal, which includes regular late telecast windows on ESPN and Fox.
Cal has played two 7:30 p.m. games. Its two announced kickoff times after Saturday are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 against Washington State and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23 at UCLA.
“I know coaches aren’t going to make a difference, in terms of when they want to play. It comes from a little bit higher up the food chain,” Petersen said. “… We already know everything, and so much of this and what we do comes down to money. TV contracts are big.
“They tell us when to play.”
“No one wants to watch our game on the East Coast that late, and we all know it.” Chris Petersen, Washington head coach