FSU avoids the heat with night game in season opener.
The ACC released the game times and networks for the first three games of the 2015 football season Friday. Florida State fans already knew two of the times, but now four new pieces have been added.
The Seminoles will open up the season at 8 ET on ESPN News against Texas State on September 5. The Bobcats are an FBS team that joined in 2012, and have been making steady improvement under coach Dennis Franchione. The Seminoles likely traded less exposure via TV Network in exchange for a cooler start time to begin the year. The average temperature for a Saturday afternoon in early September in Tallahassee is 96 degrees with nearly 100-percent humidity, and sitting through that for an opponent like Texas State isn't exactly an enjoyable experience.
The Seminoles then play USF on September 12, a program that has been in a tailspin over the last half-decade or so. The game is at 11:30 on ESPN, with Florida State insiders saying that they wanted to be finished with it quickly so that players could get rest and recovery before traveling to Boston College just four days later for a rare Friday game at 8 ET on ESPN o September 18. And it seems that an early game on the flagship ESPN might not have been possible without agreeing to the oddly early time.
Heard that the 11:30 AM kick off vs. USF was due to ESPN trying to fit a west coast game in a little bit earlier on Sep. 12.
— Ariya Massoudi (@AriyaMassoudi) May 15, 2015