Our purpose in this study was to explore how types of schematic diagrams and diurnal timing of instruction of soccer tactics affect physical education undergraduates' learning. We partly randomized student assignments to three schematic conditions: (a) diagrams with simultaneous arrows, (b) diagrams with sequential-transient arrows, or (c) diagrams with sequential-permanent arrows. Each of 45 participants attended a morning session (08h00-09h00) and an afternoon session (16h00-17h00) on two different days. Each session involved oral temperature and mood state measurements, a study phase (in which the participant studied how the play system functioned), and then a recall-reconstruction task. We found that morning sessions were associated with better recall performance than late afternoon sessions, regardless of the schematic diagram format. Moreover, students derived greater benefit from diagrams featuring both sequential-transient and sequential-permanent arrows in both morning and afternoon sessions, with a clear relative advantage for the diagrams with sequential-permanent arrows. During morning sessions, compared to afternoon sessions, participants showed lower oral temperature, lower negative mood, and higher positive mood. We discuss these findings and their implications for the acquisition of tactical information about soccer.