MORGANTOWN — Last winter, West Virginia basketball fans felt they needed to subscribe to ESPN+ to root for the Mountaineers.
It's football season, and judging by how it's starting out on TV, it looks like you won't be able to watch a Mountaineers game without copious amounts of sunscreen.
As previously suggested, the highly anticipated season opener against Penn State on Aug. 31 at Milan Puskar Stadium won't be a primetime special, but if there was ever a WVU season opener that had all the trappings of a night game, it would be this one.
Instead, the match will be broadcast as a Big Noon Saturday game on Fox.
Mountaineers fans have been vocal about this on social media for some time, considering this is the most valuable home ticket this season.
Additionally, because the game would mark the debut of the Mountaineers' new black uniforms, a nod to the coal industry, it was thought to have much more significance as a “blackout” game, in which the Mountaineers would be introduced in a darkened stadium with all fans wearing black, and then the lights would suddenly come on as the players ran onto the field.
The only chance of this happening right now is a second once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse occurring within two months.
I wonder if WVU will debut their new black uniforms at this game instead of saving them for a night game…if WVU has a night game at all.
Night football in Morgantown is always a special occasion for football-starved fans, who go wild throughout the city, tailgate party all day, and then spend the rest of the night celebrating, especially if they can pull off an upset win over rival Penn State, who have shown total dominance over WVU.
The Nittany Lions have a record of 49 wins, 9 losses and two ties in the longstanding Eastern rivalry.
WVU has won just three times in Morgantown in 35 tries, the last time coming in 1988, a season in which the Mountaineers finished the regular season undefeated but lost to Notre Dame in the national championship game.
Expectations were high for Coach Neal Brown's team this season after bouncing back from a season-opening loss to Penn State to post a 9-4 record, and their opener at Mountaineer Field had all the makings of a nighttime classic.
The noon launch does have some upsides: Fox won't broadcast Saturday night games during the opening weekend, and the network's pregame show, “Noon Kickoff,” will broadcast live from Morgantown.
The pre-game show will be broadcast live from Almost Heaven Village, located between the Blue and Teal lots, starting at 10 a.m.
The show will be anchored by Rob Stone and will feature Mark Ingram II, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn and three-time national champion coach Urban Meyer. The show will also feature Chris “The Bear” Fallica and reporters Bruce Feldman and Tom Rinaldi.
WVU will replay Game 2 against Albany on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. at Mountaineer Field on ESPN+, while Game 3 on Saturday, Sept. 14 will be the 107th re-broadcast of Backyard Brawl from Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, airing on ESPN or ESPN2.
Bring your sunglasses. Starts at 3:30pm.
Starting with the Sept. 21 game against Kansas at Milan Puskar Stadium, Big 12 Conference game times and network partners will be announced 12 days or six days prior to game day.
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