Opinion: College Football Doesn't Need Friday Night. High School Football Does.

Let's start with this: Texas Tech and Houston put on one heck of a football game Friday night.

Two ranked teams. A sold-out stadium. A Big 12 opener. A comeback. And a final 2-point conversion decided by inches.

It was everything college football wants from a nationally televised game.

There was just one problem.

It was played on Friday night.

I understand why college football keeps creeping into Friday nights. Television networks want inventory. Conferences want exposure. Schools want national windows. There are only so many hours available on Saturdays, particularly as conferences grow larger and television agreements become more valuable. The NFL is doing the same thing.

But at some point, somebody has to say enough.

Friday night should belong to high school football.

And if there is one place where everyone should understand that, it's Texas.

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire certainly does.

Before Friday's game against Houston, McGuire acknowledged how strange it felt to play a college home game on a Friday night.

"I'm so used to Friday nights in the state of Texas is kind of holy ground when it comes to Texas high school football," McGuire said earlier in the week, according to The Associated Press.

He would know.

Before becoming a college coach, McGuire spent 14 seasons as the head coach at Cedar Hill High School, where he won three state championships. He's a member of both the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.

McGuire wore a Texas High School Coaches Association cap before Friday's game as a show of support for the coaches working high school sidelines across the state.

Houston coach Willie Fritz went a step further. Fritz, who also has Texas high school coaching experience, wore his THSCA hat throughout the game, according to the Dallas Morning News.

That tells you something.

The men coaching the college game understood the awkwardness of being there.

This Isn't About Blaming Texas Tech or Houston

To be clear, this isn't about criticizing Texas Tech or Houston for playing the game.

Schools don't operate in a vacuum anymore. Conference television agreements dictate much of college football's schedule, and the enormous financial machine surrounding the sport isn't going backward.

But that doesn't mean every available television window should automatically be surrendered to college football.

There ought to be some boundaries.

Friday night is a reasonable one.

Texas Tech's game Friday was its first regular-season home game played on a Friday in Lubbock since 1941. Think about that.

Eighty-five years.

College football somehow managed to thrive at Texas Tech for all those decades without regularly taking over Friday night.

There is no compelling reason that has to change now.

High School Football Is Part of College Football's Ecosystem

There is also an irony here that shouldn't be ignored.

College football depends on high school football.

The players running around Galaxy Stadium on Friday night came overwhelmingly through high school programs. College coaches spend enormous amounts of time developing relationships with high school coaches. Recruiting departments scour Friday-night performances looking for the next player who can help them win on Saturday.

High school football isn't a competitor that college football needs to push out of the way.

It's part of the foundation upon which the college game is built.

That's particularly true in Texas, where Friday night football remains deeply embedded in communities large and small.

And the conflict isn't limited to fans deciding which game to watch on television.

High school coaches want to attend college games. College programs want high school coaches and recruits on their campuses. Families have children playing high school football and attending college games. Media outlets cover both levels.

Put major college games on Friday night and you're forcing all of them to choose.

Why?

Saturday Belongs to College Football

Friday's game drew a sellout crowd of 60,229 and produced an excellent television product. No. 13 Texas Tech survived No. 22 Houston, 28-26, when Conner Weigman's potential game-tying 2-point conversion came up inches short with 49 seconds remaining.

It was terrific theater.

Put that exact game on Saturday and it's still terrific theater.

College football owns Saturday in a way few sports own any day of the week. From noon until well after midnight, there are games available across virtually every major network and streaming platform.

It doesn't need Friday, too.

High school football doesn't have the SEC's television contracts, the Big Ten's media machine or the Big 12's national platform.

What it has is Friday night.

The marching bands. The student sections. The parents in the stands. The local rivalries. The small towns that shut down for a few hours. The communities where generations of families have spent fall Fridays at the same stadium.

That's not nostalgia. It's part of the identity of the sport.

College football has changed dramatically, and much of that change isn't going away.

But bigger doesn't have to mean taking everything.

Texas Tech and Houston gave us a memorable college football game Friday night.

Next time, let's watch it on Saturday and leave Friday night to the kids.

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