The Ohio State Buckeyes and Big Noon Kickoff are the college football version of chocolate and peanut butter. It’s the perfect match… much to the celebration of Fox executives and the chagrin of Buckeye Nation.
After several consecutive noon games to finish the season last year, Ohio State fans have spent most of the offseason railing against the over-reliance from Fox Sports on the defending national champions to carry the flag for their flagship timeslot. Even state legislators have tried to halt the Big Noon Buckeye monopoly.
To Fox’s credit, they have been successful in developing the 12 p.m. ET kickoff into a ratings winner and true competition for the best and biggest games each week. But it’s one thing to ask fans to invest in an early noon kickoff here and there, it’s another to do it nearly Saturday. And when it seems like every major game a school plays is at noon without any primetime exposure under the lights, it can begin to be a drag. When Ohio State is hosting Texas at noon and Ohio University in primetime, something is definitely wrong.
That’s why it was no accident Ohio State lobbied to move their season opening showdown with Texas (now officially a #1 vs #2 matchup) out of the early Saturday timeslot. But it came to no avail.
Ohio State’s other huge home game this year is against Big Ten rival Penn State. And already Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork is preparing for another noon clash.
“I think we know the Buckeyes drive Big Noon Kickoff. That’ll be a high-powered game. So I think we probably know what’s going to happen around game time for that one,” Bjork said according to an appearance on WOSU’s All Sides with Amy Juravich via Eleven Warriors. “Fox, they love the Buckeyes. And Big Noon is a big deal. They’ve invested in that time slot. So we’ll presume it’s a 12 noon kickoff.”
Ironically, Ohio State has already announced the Penn State game on November 1st will be a blackout.
The noon kickoffs may be convenient for some, but for the most part fans love nothing more than a big college football game under the lights in primetime. And it’s better for the home team, too. Look no further than Ohio State blitzing Tennessee in their primetime College Football Playoff game. There’s a reason why it was Texas who didn’t want the game moved from a noon kickoff after all.
But for now, and the rest of Fox’s contract with the Big Ten, it looks like Ohio State fans will have way more noon games to look forward to. At least they will also have Michigan superfan Dave Portnoy to help provide some comfort.
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