Jeez - You take the time to write a column about all the night games on the schedule and then ESPN goes and announces that the one game we barely covered moves to an evening affair.
Purdue has joined the moonlight theme of the 2011 season by taking on the Irish after dark, with the October 1st date now scheduled for 8 p.m. They join the Irish’s date with Michigan at 8 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Notre Dame’s evening battle against the Trojans, Maryland in the nation’s capital, and Stanford after Thanksgiving in the highly coveted evening slot on Saturday night.
The start-time for the games against Pitt, which has a high likelihood of being played at night, and ND’s date with Wake Forest could also be set for late, which would essentially turn this into a bizarro season.
(Also of note: ESPN included the Irish’s preseason ESPN No. 17 ranking...)
From today’s release:ESPN has selected seven Big Ten Conference college football games for prime time telecasts on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 in 2011. The schedule includes at least one team in the College Football Live preseason top 25 poll in every game and four matchups between ranked squads. Every telecast will begin at 8 p.m. ET. Additional games will be announced as the season progresses.
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
| Thu, Sep 1 | 8 p.m. | UNLV at No. 14 Wisconsin | ESPN |
| Sat, Sep 10 | 8 p.m. | No. 17 Notre Dame at Michigan | ESPN |
| Sat, Oct 1 | 8 p.m. | No. 17 Notre Dame at Purdue | ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 8 p.m. | No. 13 Nebraska at No. 14 Wisconsin | ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 | |
| Sat, Oct 8 | 8 p.m. | No. 10 Ohio State at No. 13 Nebraska | ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 |
| Sat, Oct 22 | 8 p.m. | No. 14 Wisconsin at No. 16 Michigan State | ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 |
| Sat, Oct 29 | 8 p.m. | No. 14 Wisconsin at No. 10 Ohio State | ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 |
Just about every Irish fan’s calendar filled up on Saturday night for the fall. We might need to turn next season’s live-blogs into social outings.