Constantly having to carry the Big Ten’s weight for FOX has Buckeye fans with a look of Big Noon fatigue.
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One of the biggest concerns for Ohio State football over the next few years involves something away from the field.
Since the Buckeyes are the class of the Big Ten, they are destined to carry the water for the rest of the conference by being a frequent star of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff. After closing out the 2024 regular season by playing six-straight games at noon, Ohio State looks like they will play their three biggest games of the 2025 season at noon, with two of those contests coming at home.
Towards the end of the Big Ten’s partnership with ABC/ESPN, many Ohio State fans thought ESPN had a bias against Ohio State, which is ridiculous since the Buckeyes were one of the network’s biggest draws. Were there some insane things said by ESPN personalities to get Ohio State fans riled up? There’s no denying that, but it’s hard to blame the network since it was an easy way to get some attention.
Much like is said in professional wrestling, it doesn’t matter what kind of reaction you are getting, just so long as you are getting a reaction from fans.
Now Ohio State fans have essentially traded one problem for another. While the conference has gotten away from ABC/ESPN and the perceived SEC bias the network has, now the Buckeyes are stuck playing all their important games at noon for the foreseeable future. It is well known that the noon time slot is the worst when it comes to atmosphere since often fans and players are a bit sleepy and take a while to get going.
Just look at some of the slow starts Ohio State had in their final six regular season games last year. It usually took the Buckeyes at least a quarter to get going and put some distance on their opponents. If you need proof of just how different the atmosphere is for night games, watch the first quarter of the playoff game against Tennessee when Ohio State jumped out to a 21-0 lead over the Volunteers in the first quarter.
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There are a number of other problems which come with playing so many noon games at home. A huge one is trying to bring in high school recruits from any distance away to visit for games. At least with games later afternoon games or Saturday night games, it gives recruits that have to fly into Columbus time to make it in before kickoff.
For noon games it’s almost impossible to bring in recruits who are playing games on Friday nights and aren’t close enough to drive to Columbus. It’s easy to see why Texas wouldn’t agree to playing this year’s opener at Ohio State on another day. Why would the Longhorns give the Buckeyes any help when they are competing for a lot of the same top high school talent around the country?
I was at the Texas game when Ohio State hosted the Longhorns in 2005. The atmosphere in and around Ohio Stadium for the primetime kickoff was electric. Even though the Buckeyes lost, it will be a game I’ll never forget because of how much energy there was throughout the day.
I just don’t see that atmosphere being matched when the teams meet in a couple months. Maybe some of the shine has been taken off the game because an expanded playoff doesn’t make every game mean quite as much, but this is the type of game that could be an exception.
The networks involved with the Big Ten should also have some flexibility when it comes to their time slots as well. The way it is, FOX gets the noon window, CBS has the 3:30 p.m. window, and NBC has the 7:30 p.m. window. On the first full Saturday of the college football season, NBC is airing New Mexico versus Michigan.
If we are being honest, NBC’s game should be the noon game and FOX should be able to air Texas-Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. I’m sure FOX has MLB on their Saturday night schedule that evening, but whichever teams are playing won’t even come close to touching the ratings number the battle between the Longhorns and Buckeyes will do.
As an Ohio State fan, I’m just fatigued with the whole Big Noon experience. Oregon and the other new Big Ten members can’t help with noon games since they are on the west coast. Teams in the conference like Rutgers, Northwestern, and Maryland don’t move the needle, so FOX doesn’t really have much interest in picking them for Big Noon broadcasts, leaving Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan to do most of the heavy lifting.
FOX might not even have Michigan in the near future if the NCAA ever decides to punish the Wolverines for all the cheating they have been doing. Even if Michigan avoids the NCAA’s hammer, head coach Sherrone Moore is probably in over his head and the program will likely regress even more going forward.
A huge problem is with how the games are picked by the networks. FOX apparently gets the first three picks, so you know they are picking the three biggest Ohio State games of the year. The only time you’ll get an exception is when the Buckeyes hit the road to take on Oregon, USC, UCLA, or Washington since those games aren’t going to kickoff at 9 a.m. PT. Although if FOX could do it, they likely would try and find a way to have Big 9 AM Kickoff on the west coast.
Just imagine how dreadful Ohio State-Oregon last year at Autzen Stadium would have been if it got the Big Noon treatment.
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I’m not sitting here expecting every Ohio State home game to be played under the lights, it just feels like the wrong games are being played at night. The Grambling game could have easily been a noon kickoff, and the Ohio game should have either been at noon or 3:30 p.m. ET. I have no idea why the last few years it seems like one of the very few night home games the Buckeyes get are against MAC teams. Make it all make sense!
In the end, we are going to end up watching Ohio State football games whether they kickoff at noon, midnight, or even 4 a.m. on a Thursday morning. The networks know this so they can do whatever they want, and since FOX has the most pull of the three major networks, Ohio State gets stuck with the less than ideal timeslot. It’s like Don Draper yelling “THAT’S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR!” came to life and is responding to myself and the rest of Buckeye Nation.
As long as Ohio State keeps winning national titles, when they play their games doesn’t really matter. It would just be nice if there was a little more variety with the teams picked for Big Noon broadcasts and the truly big games got the prime time treatment they deserve.