Thursday, February 12, 2009

Gamecocks Scheduled for Thursday Night ESPN

Ole Miss will be returning to Thursday night ESPN this year with the South Carolina game being picked up by the network. With the new change in kickoff this changed the schedule around a little bit for next season. However there is still one game open on the schedule. At the current time Ole Miss only has eleven games scheduled for next year and kickoff is seven months away. In my opinion it is absolutely ridiculous for the schedule to not be complete. I was under the impression most schools had their schedules set several years in advance. It is absolutely pathetic we are waiting to find out who to play. I would guess it is going to be some small D2 school that all other SEC schools are going to laugh about us playing. Typical.

(UMAA)
OXFORD, Miss. ­ - Ole Miss and South Carolina announced Thursday it has switched the Rebels’ visit to Columbia this season from Sept. 26 to Sept. 24 in order to accommodate a request from ESPN to make the contest a part of its Thursday Night national television package. Kickoff from Williams-Brice Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. Central.

“We appreciate the help of Mark Womack in the Southeastern Conference office for assisting us to make this telecast possible,” said Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone. “Several schools, both inside and outside the SEC, were asked to make schedule changes in order to honor ESPN’s request, and we are grateful for their cooperation.”

The switch of dates with South Carolina resulted in two additional schedule adjustments for Ole Miss in 2009. Ole Miss was to have played at Vanderbilt on Sept. 19, but that game is now scheduled for Oct. 3. Another change that became necessary was to move a scheduled home game with Southeastern Louisiana from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19.

“We are very pleased that Ole Miss will be returning to our Thursday Night schedule in 2009,” said Dave Brown, vice president of programming for ESPN. “As the defending Cotton Bowl champions and a consensus pre-season top 20 pick, the South Carolina game is a great addition to our Thursday package this year. We extend a special thanks to Pete Boone, John Hartwell and Coach Houston Nutt for making this happen for us.”

The last time Ole Miss was included in ESPN’s Thursday Night package was Nov. 27, 2003, when the Rebels defeated Mississippi State in Starkville. ESPN had telecast the annual Ole Miss-Mississippi State game on Thursday night for a number of years until that point.