Texas A&M's first-round College Football Playoff matchup with the Miami Hurricanes in College Station is already generating a lot of buzz after Selection Sunday, and the Aggies will no doubt be ready to defend home field against the two-loss Hurricanes. Miami lost to Louisville at home and SMU on the road earlier this year, but have performed significantly worse on the road relative to their rankings.
Aggie fans all know that Kyle Field is an inimitable environment in the sport of college football, but also that the Home of the 12th Man is at its peak powers come evening. In one last taunt to the Aggies, apparently, ESPN has elected to put the Aggies' game against the Miami Hurricanes as the earliest possible kickoff, thus doing their best to neutralize the home field advantage in College Station.
Texas A&M given short end of the stick by ESPN with 11 AM kick time against Miami
Texas A&M is set to host the Miami Hurricanes at 11 AM on ABC on December 20, while the scintillating matchups between Tulane and Ole Miss as well as James Madison and Oregon will be saved for the later kickoffs.
You have to understand keeping such highly-anticipated showdowns as that between the Green Wave and the Rebels (let's see them get some revenge for that 35-point loss we already saw earlier in the year!) as well as the Dukes and the Ducks (those names sound so much alike... it will have everyone tuning in to see what's what!). So on that front, you really can't be mad!
I am, of course, being sarcastic. Texas A&M and Miami will have the most highly-anticipated first round game by far, as OU and Alabama is the only other good game— and we already saw that slugfest play out in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago.
And yet, ESPN decides there's no need to give the Aggies the prime time spot. This is just another head scratcher from this network, and it leads to the Ags getting the short end of the stick. Kyle Field is still the top environment in the sport— it's just a shame that the fans won't be able to see it at its full powers.