EAST LANSING – Now in his sixth season at Michigan State, Darius Snow has seen a lot.
Three different head coaches to go with an interim one, the COVID season off the jump, a career-threatening injury and just about everything in between.
That includes a surge of the Spartans playing night games in recent years, and the linebacker occasionally weighs in on social media. When it was announced last fall Michigan State would host Iowa for a night game – meaning the season total would end with a program-record seven kickoffs under the lights – Snow wrote “Noon games I took you for granted.”
When the Big Ten last month set Michigan State’s Sept. 20 kickoff at USC for 8 p.m. local time in Los Angeles. Snow couldn’t resist, writing “oh my goodness.” A 45-31 win for the Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ended at 2:55 a.m. ET.
Now, after nearly two full years, the Spartans (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) will finally snap their noon kickoff drought when hosting UCLA (1-4, 1-1) on Saturday. It will be their first 12 p.m. start since a 24-21 win at Indiana on Nov. 18, 2023.
“It’s all jokes,” Snow said with a smile following practice on Wednesday. “At the end of the day, it’s an opportunity to play football but we like getting out there to play. We practice in the morning too, so the earlier the better for me.”
Noon games on Saturday were the longtime norm until the conferences ceded control to TV networks and streaming services in exchange for billions of dollars.
Michigan State’s last noon home game was a 20-17 win against Nebraska on Nov. 4, 2023, under interim coach Harlon Barnett. Katin Houser and Sam Leavitt were the quarterbacks who played that day. It wasn’t that long ago, but really feels like it, and 707 days will separate Michigan State’s home noon kickoffs.
“Noon games are cool because you just wake up and you go play ball,” center Matt Gulbin. “We’ve had to kind of sit around a hotel for a little bit for a lot of our games.”
Since Michigan State’s last noon start at Indiana nearly two years ago, 11 of 18 games have begun after 7 p.m. Eastern and five were on a Friday. Some fans like early kicks, some mid-afternoon while some are night owls.
“Whatever time they set us up, that’s when we’re going to play,” quarterback Aidan Chiles said. “Can’t go wrong with a noon start, for sure.”
Michigan State, which hasn’t played a home game in a month, heads into a homecoming matchup against a UCLA squad that suddenly looks a lot different and more dangerous. This is huge for the Spartans in an attempt to break out of a funk before closing the month against top-25 opponents Indiana and Michigan.
“We’re definitely looking forward to a noon kickoff back at home, homecoming in front of our fanbase, the passionate fan base that we have,” Smith said. “We’re excited about that.”
UCLA was a program dead in the water a week ago at 0-4 under interim coach Tim Skipper. The Bruins found new life and pulled off a stunning 42-37 upset against then-No. 7 Penn State at the Rose Bowl and will arrive in East Lansing riding a high. It will be a 9 a.m. Pacific start for the visitors.
“I can’t speak totally for UCLA but watching them off that tape on Saturday,” Smith said, “I think they’re going to be excited to play whatever time we’re kicking off.”
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