The rematch of the Big Ten Championship Game will be played on a Friday night next season.
Northwestern announced today that next season’s home game against Ohio State will be played on Friday, October 18. The game will obviously be a prime-time kick.
Ohio State is one of the handful of Big Ten teams that has declined to host a Friday night game when the Big Ten went in this direction a few years ago.
While OSU has not been in favor of Friday night games, this particular date follows open weeks for both teams. This would also give them an extra day of preparation for their next opponent.
For Ohio State, that next opponent is Wisconsin.
Ohio State has confirmed the move, and Northwestern’s website already reflects the date change from October 19 to October 18.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Location | TV/Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 13 | 12:00 pm | Spring Game | Columbus, Oh | BTN |
| Aug 31 | 12:00 pm | Florida Atlantic | Columbus, Oh | FOX | OSU 45 - FAU 21 |
| Sept 7 | 12:00 pm | Cincinnati | Columbus, Oh | ABC | OSU 42 - UC 0 |
| Sept 14 | 12:00 pm | at Indiana | Bloomington, In | FOX | OSU 51 - IU 10 |
| Sept 21 | 3:30 pm | Miami OH | Columbus, Oh | BTN | OSU 76 - MU 5 |
| Sept 28 | 7:30 pm | at Nebraska | Lincoln, Ne | ABC | OSU 48 - NU 7 |
| Oct 5 | 7:30 pm | Michigan St | Columbus, Oh | ABC | OSU 38 - MSU 3 |
| Oct 12 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| Oct 18 | 8:30 pm | at Northwestern | Evanston, IL | FS1 | OSU 52 - NW 3 |
| Oct 26 | 12:00 PM | Wisconsin | Columbus, Oh | FOX | OSU 38 - UW 7 |
| Nov 2 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| Nov 9 | 12:00 pm | Maryland | Columbus, Oh | FOX | OSU 73 - UM 14 |
| Nov 16 | 3:30 pm | at Rutgers | Piscataway, N.J. | BTN | OSU 56 - RU 21 |
| Nov 23 | 12:00 pm | Penn State | Columbus, Oh | FOX | OSU 28 - PSU 17 |
| Nov 30 | 12:00 pm | at Michigan | Ann Arbor, Mi | FOX | OSU 56 - UM 27 |
| Dec 7 | 8:00 pm | vs. Wisconsin | Indianapolis, In | FOX |
The reason we now have college football Tuesday through Saturday in a lot of weeks is a very simple reason. Las Vegas. Football is the #1 bettors sport and for the majority of football season it’s only baseball as a betting alternative. While the average fan can understand spreads, totals, and money line bets, the odds on baseball are a little more complicated. So in order for Vegas to have action every night we now have some form of handicapped football 7 days a week. Even ESPN has started to focus more on it’s gambling viewers. While I used to love gameday as a warm up to the days slate of games it’s become hard to watch now that I no longer bet on sports. That moron Bear is solely for gambling and every preview now shows spread and total for the game. While they never mention gambling outright it is very clear what direction the network is moving. I envision the day when ESPN, like MTV in the 90’s, completely loses its identity and shows only gambling tips and political adds. So if you don’t like Friday college football, I’m sorry, but it’s only going to get worse.
I don’t know why every time I comment here at The Ozone I get so long winded. Seems to be a trait not exclusive to me, though. I could have stopped after the second sentence. LOL.
GO BUCKS!!!
The odds on baseball could not be simpler.
A real turd move…and college ball continues to follow NFL circling the drain.
1. OSU has 13 days to rest before NW and 8 days to rest before WI…not bad. Both teams get national exposure and bar and grill attention.
2. I remember our 2016 loss in a night game ‘white out’ at PSU after a nasty night road game at WI, who comes up with this nonsense? OSU gets a night away game after 13 days of rest and then a home game with 8 days of rest.
3. Only a small slice of America is into HS football. Most of CFB games start well after the beginning of HS football games. HS teams are now regularly playing Thursday night games, what about Volleyball, Cross Country, etc on Thursdays? All deal with it.
4. I tend to agree with only an 8 team B1G conf. schedule, imagine of OSU didn’t have a 9 game conference slate and maybe didn’t have an IA or PUR on their schedule to lose. The flip side of it, is a 9 game Conf. slate for The SEC, what IFf AL had to play GA and FL every other year and GA have to play LSU 3/4 years and AL every 3/5 years and so forth.
In America HS football may be a small slice, but in the midwest its a big slice…and in Ohio its nearly the whole pie. I get what you are saying and I’m sure the NCAA couldn’t care less about HS sports as a whole.
The SEC became the power it now is by playing Thursday night and Saturday night games when nobody else did. They were the “only game in town” and they received lots of exposure for it and it led to a flood of highly rated recruits into the SEC. This flood continues to this day. I think week night games are helping the MAC as well. The problem is is that nobody else will be able to capture the magic that the SEC did years ago, so this will not be a big positive for the BIG and they are now going to hurt high school football. I’m not a fan of this move.
Booooooo!
I boooooooooooooo too.
Why would we agree to play this on a Friday night? Why is the Big 10 pushing this crap along with continuing to play a 9 game conference schedule? We continue to beat the shit out of each other to the point we bastardize the entire conference come playoff selection time and then we wonder why the Big 10 continually gets left out. Do you see the SEC playing Friday night games or a 9 game conference schedule? Hell Saban barely lets Alabama play night road games at all because he understands the risk of a trap game. How many night road games have we played the last 4 or 5 seasons? We played 3 this year alone and 1 of them bit us hard. The conference needs to wake up if the ultimate goal is a team in the playoff every year.
Not a fan of this crap, but I guess there are larger problems in the world.