Other Than A Calendar Flip, Thursday Is Just Game Day

CHAPEL HILL – Playing on Thursday night in college football can be exciting for the players but also a bit disruptive to a program, especially the coaches.

North Carolina Coach Mack Brown operates on a completely different calendar than usual when gearing his team up for a Thursday night affair, which is the case this week, as the Tar Heels visit Pittsburgh on Nov. 14 for an 8 pm kick.

“The biggest challenge is to figure out what day it is….,” Brown said during his weekly press conference Monday at the Kenan Football Center. “We had Tuesday’s practice yesterday, which was on a Sunday when they didn’t have class, so it was unique and different. And then we have Wednesday’s practice today and we’ll have Thursday’s practice on Tuesday.

“Even in our staff meeting today trying to figure out which day you leave, you leave Wednesday, which is Friday normally, so coaches are in such routine that you block out your schedule so much that you really just have to completely change it this week.”

The effect carries even after the game is played.

“And you think about the kids get back at 4 o’clock in the morning and we need them in class on Friday so,” Brown said. “That’s a challenge for them.”

The players don’t really mind, though.

They like playing on television, and most Thursday games on ESPN have very little competion and are often fairly significant.

“I think it’s a pretty cool deal,” freshman quarterback Sam Howell said. “You’re the only game on TV so everybody’s watching. It’s a little mixed up from playing on Saturdays (but) I think it’s pretty cool.”

The coaches may be thrown off from the rest of civilization with whatever day of the week it is, but the players say they don’t need to adjust as much.

They just want to play, and they’re so used to doing whatever the coaches tell them, they will find a way to be ready. So, they simply get ready.

“Not too much changes, except for what day it is,” senior defensive tackle Jason Strowbridge said.

Thursday nights haven’t been kind nor unkind to the Tar Heels, and there’s more than enough intel to try and draw some conclusions regarding UNC’s effectiveness in these games, if so inclined.

But the reality is that Carolina is 9-9 on Thursday nights with all but two of the games coming on the road or neutral sites. A .500 mark essentially playing away from home in high-profile games is probabyl a plus for the Heels. Plus, they have won twice in the last four years at Pitt on Thursdays, beating the Panthers 26-19 in 2015 and two years ago 34-31.

This year’s game matches a 4-5 UNC team (3-3 in the ACC) against a Pitt club that is 6-3 and 3-2. Both haven’t played since Nov. 2 when the Heels lost at home to Virginia and the Panthers won at Georgia Tech.

Perhaps playing Thursday would be an issue if one of the teams was truly engaged in a short week having played this past Saturday, but that’s not the case.

“It makes it easier with us coming off a bye week,” Howell said.

And in the end, it will be game day. And to the coaches and players, come kickoff time, that’s all that will matter.