Today it was made official that TCU's season opener against Baylor in Waco will take place Friday September 2nd at 7 p.m. (CDT) and will be televised nationally on ESPN. This is a positive for the Frogs on the exposure front because if the game remained on Saturday it would most likely have been slotted into obscurity on a Fox Sports regional channel and now it will receive the benefit of the hype-machine that is ESPN. TCU-Baylor will be only the 3rd game of the college football season and the only game on that night so it is likely that the college football starved masses will tune in to get their fix. Another benefit to the game being moved to Friday is it means one more day of rest and prep for Air Force the next week, which is always a difficult road trip for the Frogs.
This game now makes it three Friday night games for the Frogs in 2011 with BYU at Cowboys Stadium and SMU in Fort Worth also slated for Fridays. Some of you may remember me railing against the MWC for moving the SMU game to Friday night but this is a different set of circumstances in my opinion. As a road game it will not hurt recruiting opportunities like a Friday night home game does (recruits can't attend games on Friday nights), the game will get the greatest exposure possible on ESPN, and it will not hinder but in fact enhance the ability for the TCU fanbase to watch the game (though travel is made slightly more complicated).