Numerous times each season, ESPN’s College GameDay and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff go head-to-head at the same location. The same goes for this season as well. And with the Week 13 Big Ten matchup between the No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the No. 5 ranked Indiana Hoosiers, this will be the case yet again.
Earlier this week, Fox announced that Big Noon Kickoff will be in town for the game, which will take place on the network at noon EST. It’ll be the third time that BNK has broadcast from Columbus this season alone, much to the chagrin of Buckeyes fans who hate noon EST starts.
As if there won’t be enough Ohio State coverage on Big Noon Kickoff, ESPN will also be getting in the mix in Week 13. On Saturday, Bill Hofheimer, the vice president of communications at ESPN, announced that College GameDay will also be on-site for the Ohio State-Indiana matchup next weekend.
Just announced: ESPN’s @CollegeGameDay is headed to Columbus next Saturday for Indiana-Ohio State.
It will be @OhioStateFB‘s record 24th time hosting CGD at The Shoe. 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/nGHOopZdlW
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) November 16, 2024
College GameDay has been dominating Big Noon Kickoff in the weekly ratings war. And when the two shows have gone head to head at the same location, that edge is seemingly even more pronounced.
The difference in strategy between the two networks is quite obvious. Fox largely uses Big Noon Kickoff to highlight the top game on their network each week. Meanwhile, ESPN hasn’t been shy about sending College GameDay to whatever site the top game of the week happens to be, regardless of network.
We’ll see how each pregame show fares in Week 13. But on paper, it sure seems like College GameDay will yet again have the edge.
