Notre Dame Football: Reaction to Kickoff Times for 2019 Home Games

Notre Dame football announced the kickoff times for all of their 2019 home games during the annual Blue-Gold Game this past weekend. Irish fans around the world can now start planning their fall weekends accordingly.

Throughout the Blue-Gold Game this past Saturday, Notre Dame sprinkled in announcements of the kickoff times for each of their seven home games in 2019.

The best of these announcements by far was the Virginia game. For this one, they recreated the famous photo of the deflated Virginia fan after DeShone Kizer’s game-winning touchdown pass to Will Fuller in 2015.

I was a bit surprised when the times were announced for a couple of reasons.

First, in 2019, there will be more games that start at 2:30pm ET than at 3:30pm. To my knowledge, that is the first time this has happened since Notre Dame entered into their contract with NBC.

In the past, almost all kickoff times for Notre Dame home games were scheduled for 3:30pm. Even though these times were announced in spring, this will almost certainly confuse some fans watching at home or attending in person.

Another reason I was surprised by these announcements is that there will only be one prime time game played in Notre Dame stadium in 2019.

This will be the first time this has happened since the 2014 season. What was the lone prime time game that year, you ask? Oh, that was the 37-0 victory over Michigan. For as long as I live, I will never miss an opportunity to reference that game.

In every season since 2014, the Irish have played at least two prime time games at home. Just last year, they played three prime time games in Notre Dame Stadium (and won ’em all).