MSU opener at noon

MSU announced today that the Sept. 4 football season opener against Western Michigan at Spartan Stadium will be a noon start and be televised by ESPN2.

    Score one for the media, tough break for the tailgaters. To recap, that means we now know start times for four of MSU's 12 games. The Sept. 18 home game against Notre Dame is an 8 p.m. kickoff (media whine, tailgaters rejoice), the Oct. 16 homecoming game against Illinois starts at noon, and the next week at Northwestern is a nooner as well. Eastern time, of course.

    Start times on the Sept. 11 (Florida Atlantic at Ford Field) and Sept. 25 (Northern Colorado at home) games should be decided soon. The rest of the Big Ten schedule should be TV decisions made 12 days in advance of each game.