The game times for three of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets games were announced this morning, with the Yellow Jackets facing the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs on Sept. 6 at 3:30 Eastern time and the Clemson Tigers on Sept. 13 at 12:00 Eastern time. However it is the third game that I want to talk about: the one against the in-state rival Georgia Bulldogs.
The Yellow Jackets will play the Bulldogs on a Friday for the second consecutive season, which I do not mind, but the time slot given to the game was absolutely atrocious. A 3:30 Eastern time start on a Friday is something that just does not sit right with me, because it means that people that are working Monday through Friday jobs will not be able to watch the game when it starts.
The primetime game slot for the day was instead given to the Texas-Texas A&M matchup. I get the appeal of the Texas-Texas A&M game will bring, but are we forgetting what the Georgia-Georgia Tech brings to the table? This could very well be a top ten matchup, and depending on how the season goes, could be a matchup between teams that would be leading their conference heading into the contest.
I think that both teams did enough last season to where they should have been picked for that primetime slot for Friday night, as they had what I would personally call the regular season game of the year. The networks really messed up not having this game on a primetime slot, but the disrespect to put it at 3:30 Eastern time on a Friday is insulting.