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When the Hokies and Yellow Jackets tangle in Atlanta this week, it will be the third consecutive time the teams have played at night when the game was been in the ATL. I wouldn't have it any other way because calllage footbawl was meant to be played under the lights.

Night games always seem more important than day games, which is why I'm glad there are so many of them. On any given week you'll get four or five decent matchups after the sun goes down. You get even more when daylight savings time ends. It's completely unlike th totalitarian regime of the NFL that shows just one night game.

I always have more fun at night games than afternoon games. It gives you an entire day to get adequately prepared for the game.  I like spending the whole day getting dranked and watching the other games at my tailgate. It gets me more amped for the Tech game.

When I'm at home, I like being able to have three decent games going at once on my three-TV set-up (yes, I know Phil Steele scoffs at me). The night games are culmination of a great day of football and drinking. If you're a true fan of the oblong, you appreciate the importance of night games.

When you're in the central time zone, there's nothing worse than when your team's game starts at 11 a.m. Just ask all those OU and Texas fans who will be dealing with gridlock at 6:30 a.m. trying to get into the Texas State Fairgrounds. But night games have a special air about them.

When Saturday's game between the Hokies and Yellow Jackets was announced as a night game, I was thrilled. It mean that game had some national importance. On any given Saturday you're going to have over 60 I-A football games on. There's no reason not to have more than one game at night. In the NFL, where you get 16 games max, it's more acceptable. Plus people have work the next day.

But who cares on a Saturday night? Give me a reason to drink all day and into the night.

And yeah, night football doesn't cater to the schedules of college students. That's dead wrong. No, 11 a.m. football doesn't cater to the schedules of college students. When I was an undergrad and we had an 11 a.m. game it meant we had to be in line at the stadium at 8 to get into the student section at 9 to get good seats. And that's really difficult when you were up 'til 4 a.m. the night before playing Ballz n' Booze. Night games were welcome news.

Between the fact there are more games available for prime time, the fact prime time means your game is more meaningful and the fact it gives you all day to get well lubricated for the game, I saw it doesn't get any better than a night game.

Go Hokies!