Season Opener at Cal Set for 7:30p Kickoff

It’s the Monday before the Saturday before the season opener at Cal which means the release of the start times and TV assignments of that weeks’ games. Washington was snake-bitten by a night start time last year in the infamous thunderstorm game so hopefully the weather won’t turn against them this year as it will be a 7:30p PT kickoff with the game airing on ESPN.

Based on how things turned out it looks like the UW-Cal matchup was likely viewed as the 3rd best game by the networks. ASU/USC becomes the first Pac-12 game with a 9a start time to see if they can pull in the national audience to watch the Pac-12’s biggest brand (USC is still USC folks, that’s why Slovis is the picture accompanying the official announcement from the Pac-12). Oregon gets the next best time slot with the 4:30p kickoff on ABC with the ABC/ESPN family of networks shifting to the Huskies immediately after at 7:30p.

Washington is a favorite according to the point spread which means there’s a peak possibility of more Pac-12 After Dark shenanigans. Although hopefully the lack of involvement from Pac-12 Networks means that some of the curse goes away. And let’s be real, isn’t Wazzu/Oregon State a much more likely pairing to put together some Pac-12 After Dark shenanigans?

Now we know, folks. Brace yourselves for an extremely nerve-wracking entire day of waiting for Husky football to return after a 10+ month hiatus. And if you’re already losing sleep over excitement for that first game like I am then I’m sorry you’ve also now got an additional 7 hours to wait for that kickoff.