TCU led Arizona 28-20 when, unannounced and totally unexpected, Midnight Madness began Saturday morning at Casino del Sol Stadium.
Most of you were sleeping. Of the 40,501 who gathered to watch the game that began at 8:31 p.m., a stream of red taillights leaving the stadium had begun at halftime, 10:07 p.m. There couldn't have been more than 15,000 fans remaining as the calendar flipped from Friday night to Saturday morning.
So many TV sets had been turned off by the time the fourth quarter began at 11:12 p.m., that the power grid at TEP must've pulsed at ultra-high levels.
Most of the loud and into-it Zona Zoo section had split for Gentle Ben's or Frog and Firkin or other campus hot spots long before most UA football fans had ever heard of kickoff man Ian French and fumble recovery hero Zuri Watson.
Ian and Zuri. That doesn't exactly ring the bells like Gronk and Foles used to, but they will now be a part of UA history under the heading “Heroes of Midnight Madness, 2026.”
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Why did so many Tucsonans miss one of the most unforgettable finishes in school football history? Because Big 12 After Dark doesn't work any more than Pac-12 After Dark did.
Everybody in red starts celebrating as Arizona cornerback Tyrese Boss (9) pulls in an interception to nail down a comeback 29028 win over TCU in the Big 12, Tucson, Ariz., November 6, 2026.
Here's the breakdown of what a late-night game on ESPN requires.
In the first half, there were eight commercial stoppages for 23 minutes and 15 seconds. (There were 56 different companies featured in those TV spots: two by DoorDash, Mercedes-Benz, Liberty Mutual, Burger King, Dr. Pepper and one featuring former ASU power runner Cam Skattebo.)
There were four timeouts, and a two-minute warning stoppage. It then required 21 minutes for halftime. The third quarter kicked off at 10:28 p.m., but the game was soon halted for a TV replay review to make sure the time clock was exact.
Those who stuck with the game, on TV or in person, had watched 30 minutes of football across an hour and 57 minutes.
No wonder the exodus began. Would you have stuck it out?
ESPN ran back-to-back commercial stoppages three times, the first for 2:45, the next for 3 minutes. Yes, television pays a massive percentage of the bills in college football, but fans, watching from home and from the 40-yard line, pay with long-worn-out patience for late-night college football and basketball games.
When UA kicker Michael Salgado-Medina's winning field goal whipped through the goalposts, it was 12:08 a.m. on Saturday. There weren't even enough fans in the stadium to rush the field for what will long be called a Game for the Ages.
It was midnight madness without the madness.
