Hopefully the night game helps, and that steam box is below 95.
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in this case donny is correct. This being a night game is a huge benefit for us.
Mid day South Texas heat in August is not something that can be prepared for other than moving training camp down here two weeks before the game. End of day/Sundown/night time heat is much more tolerable.
....well before the day of the game with all kinds of electrolytes, pickle juice, water, etc.!!!
by a lot!
However, the things you are talking about is what will still be needed to deal with the end of day/early evening temps there with an evening kickoff.
There is simply not much that can be done for a daytime game there at that time of year (other than acclimatizing to it by practicing in similar conditions for about 2 weeks) ...we are very fortunate it's an evening kickoff.
Unless it's a rain game, which is quite possible, it will most likely be hotter at night in College Station than the hottest part of the day in South Bend. Late day temps around 5-6 pm are 15-20 degrees hotter than the hottest part of the day in South Bend and the Sun is about 5,000 miles closer there, so it's not just the temperature you're dealing with...the Sun beating on you takes more out of you
Kickoff is 6:30 local time and sunset is about 8:15 but the last 30-45 min of that is the sun peeking over horizon. Factoring in that plus pregame, they will likely have to deal with a couple hours of extreme heat.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them struggle a bit with the heat in most of the first half and then see them regroup in the second half once the sun goes down and take controlof the game.
Thankfully, it has much less heat retention than synthetic turf surfaces.
While Field Turf has better cooling built in (controlled water release) than most synthetic surfaces, it still can't match the natural grass cooling.
I'll be eternally grateful that they got rid of that awful Astroturf field in 1996. That surface was an abomination, and little more than plastic carpet-covered concrete...
the sideline that stays in the sun the longest. I'll be watching intently for the shadow to reach our lads.
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