So Kansas University’s football team has finally made it to a Bowl Championship Series game. And wouldn’t you know, it’s on a school night.

Don’t blame the Lawrence school board and administrators – they set the Lawrence public school calendar a long time before anyone could have known KU would play in such a game.

But with the Orange Bowl starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, the game won’t end before 11 p.m. at the earliest.

What is a die-hard, school-age KU football fan to do?

Luckily, many parents say they are flexible with bedtimes if their children are interested in the game.

“We’ll probably let them watch it,” says Amy Mumford, mother of three children, ages 2, 8 and 11. “Depending on the score, we’ll let them stay up until the end.”

However, it will be a family affair – Mumford says having friends over “would probably be pushing it on a school night.”

Cathy King, who has four teenagers, says she has no qualms about letting her kids watch the game and invite friends over, too.

“At their ages, it’s OK to stay up,” she says. “It’s also the first week of school, so the workload would be light.”

That’s what Southwest Junior High School seventh-grader Gavin Kirk is counting on.

Gavin says he would definitely be watching the game with his family, but first, he’ll have to get his homework done – he always has to do it right after school. But he was optimistic that he’d be able to avoid that chore.

“That’s the first day back, so I don’t think there’ll be any homework,” he says.

Sarah Robinson, a Free State High School senior, says she isn’t too interested in the game but would probably get together with friends to watch it anyway. Although she’ll be allowed to stay out to see the whole broadcast, she’ll probably leave early. She usually goes to bed at 10 p.m.

“I wouldn’t want to be tired the next day,” Robinson says.

Parents whose children share Robinson’s lack of enthusiasm for KU sports don’t have to worry about wrangling with their kids to watch the game.

Matt Bova says he and his wife are KU fans, but the Jayhawk spirit hasn’t rubbed off on his two teenagers.

“I tried,” he says. “It didn’t work out.”