Night football for University of Michigan in 2015

By Phil Watson | Feb 2, 2015

Oct 11, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; General view before the game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /

Interim athletic director Jim Hackett said there will be at least one night football game at The Big House in 2015.

In a sport that wraps itself like a blanket in tradition—albeit a really obnoxious, screaming, yelling, belligerent blanket—it appears that the age-old tradition of night football at Michigan Stadium, which dates all the way back to the nether regions of the college football history books (2011) will continue next season.

Interim athletic director Jim Hackett told MLive.com that Michigan will host at least one game in the venerable Big House, possibly either Michigan State or Ohio State.

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It won’t be both, however.

“I’ve got to go through the tracks with the regents and the president,” Hackett said. “I don’t know (if it’ll be just one or not). The issue here … they’re fantastic and you have to face this going down the road when they get to new TV contracts. There’s more prime time (opportunities) in the future.”

Give Hackett credit for honesty—he freely seems to admit that if the television networks that now run the sport tell him to defecate, he will in fact squat and make grunting sounds.

Former athletic director Dave Brandon never considered putting the Ohio State or Michigan State games in prime time.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith is reportedly in agreement with that stand, while Michigan State counterpart Mark Hollis is less rigid on the idea at times.

The only certainty is that it will be either the Spartans or the Buckeyes, if it is either. But it will not be both.

“I’m making a whole new scheduling engine,” Hackett said. “(I’d probably rule out) one of the two. But I’m not going to tell you (right now).”

Call me old-fashioned, but it still seems just a bit heretical that an 88-year-old stadium would be featured in a game played under artificial light on plastic grass—but traditions, as we learned from College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock, are created instantly, not formed over time.

All kidding aside, the night games at Michigan were hugely popular. The Wolverines beat Notre Dame at night in Michigan Stadium in both 2011 and 2013 and topped Penn State last season under the lights at the Big House.

According to FBSchedules.com, Michigan also has home games for 2015 scheduled against Oregon State, UNLV, BYU, Northwestern and Rutgers along with the rivalry games with the Buckeyes and Spartans.

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