Many of the big changes, the things television viewers notice most, happened last season for Big Ten Conference football.
The biggest change was the arrival of NBC Sports and “Big Ten Saturday Night,” which quickly emerged as one of the best college football broadcasts in the business. Right behind that was the arrival of CBS Sports, one of the proven standard bearers for the sport. After losing Southeastern Conference games to ESPN, the network gets a full Big Ten schedule of this season, with most games starting at 3:30 p.m.
So, any fall Saturday for the conference this season means games at noon on Fox, 3:30 p.m. on CBS and 7:30 p.m. on NBC. (Plus, games on BTN and Fox Sports 1 as well.) It’s an NFL model, with three television windows providing coverage all day long.
This season — with more teams and more compelling matchups every week — should be one of even sharper focus and stronger game production across the board. There could be a good bit of additional access and innovation at some point, too.
As viewers prepare for the season, here’s a little bit of context and history along with a look ahead at what to expect and who will be broadcasting games.
Context and History
In 2023, Penn State played four games on Fox, two each on BTN, CBS and NBC and one each on ESPN (the bowl game vs. Ole Miss), Fox Sports 1 and Peacock. The Nittany Lions bookended the season with those “Big Ten Saturday Night” games on NBC, a testament to the program’s visibility.
The team’s two most-viewed games last season were both played at noon — with 9.96 million people watching the loss at Ohio State and 9.16 million watching the home loss to Michigan.
Games against Indiana (3.39 million), West Virginia (3.5) and at Illinois (3.22) also drew decent numbers. Still, Penn State remains a bit behind Ohio State and Michigan as the drawing power any weekend. It’s good by that standard — not quite elite — but people will be watching this season.
Game Selection Process
The partner networks “draft” weekends when they’ll have first choice of games before the season begins, and that helped set the early season schedule.
Going forward, games get announced with 12 or six days of advance notice. Only two Penn State games have known kick times thus far in 2024. It’s probably not ideal for fans, but it’s what works best for the networks and they’re funding college football at this point, so that kind of ensures the process going forward. (Until players grab a bit more power and push back at some point.)
Fox had first choice three of the first five weekends and that helped craft its strong early season schedule. The network also has first dibs on games Nov. 2, when Ohio State plays at Penn State and Oregon plays at Michigan — and that’s a large part of the reason a decision about the White Out lingered for so long.
One of those games will be at noon for sure, but that decision will come later and could be subject to the presidential election as well. In a close election season, with both Ohio and Pennsylvania in play, advertising dollars might be flowing at that time and that could be a factor in a big game being played during Fox’s most-watched timeslot for college football.
It’ll be a week-by-week process as more Penn State games get announced, and along with news about game times and networks, watch the games themselves for additions and innovations. With every network looking for a way to differentiate itself, and with the money flowing into the sport, access and special features will increase. Just as much as the on-field action, the broadcasts themselves could pack some surprises.
Scouting the Season
Noon, Fox
The network has astutely and profitably committed to broadcasting games at noon on Saturdays. While the intro show, “Big Noon Kickoff,” remains behind “College GameDay” on ESPN in terms of information and my trust, people watch the games because the matchups are compelling. The noon starts have become the most-watched regular season timeslot on any network the past three seasons, averaging 6.7 million viewers and up 8 percent from 2022 to 2023.
The network should enjoy a strong ratings to start this season. After the Penn State opener at West Virginia, the network’s early season matchups include Texas at Michigan and Alabama at Wisconsin. People will be watching.
- Top broadcast teams: Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft; Jason Benetti, Brock Huard and Allision Williams; Tim Brando and Spencer Williams
- Games already set: Aug. 29, North Carolina at Minnesota; Aug. 31, Penn State at West Virginia; Sept. 7, Texas at Michigan; Sept. 14, Alabama at Wisconsin; Sept. 14, Oregon at Oregon State
3:30 p.m., CBS
After a handful of conference games last season, including Penn State the White Out game against Iowa, CBS gets a full season of games this season. The broadcasts will sound like what the network did with the SEC for years and there’s no doubt the productions will be steady.
With a Notre Dame game the third week of the season and USC at Michigan, CBS has a good early lineup — and it has a season-ending punctuation mark with the conference championship game, too.
- Top broadcast team: Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jenny Dell
- Games already set: Aug. 31, Akron at Ohio State; Aug. 31, UCLA at Hawaii; Sept. 7, Iowa State at Iowa; Sept. 14, Notre Dame at Purdue; Sept. 21, USC at Michigan; Dec. 7, Big Ten Championship; Dec. 14, Army-Navy Game
7:30 p.m., NBC
Games at night look a little better on TV but it’s not the setting so much as those conducting and producing the broadcast that set “Big Ten Saturday Night” apart. With its Big Ten package and its Notre Dame deal, NBC regularly has compelling games, and this season it feels like the matchups could get stronger as the season progresses.
Its game the second week of the season, Colorado at Nebraska, might be as big a game as the network has had in its first couple of seasons. People will at least be interested in the renewal of the rivalry, and Colorado coach Deion Sanders always attracts attention.
- Top broadcast team: Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen
- Games already set: Aug. 31, Fresno State at Michigan; Sept. 7, Colorado at Nebraska; Sept. 14, Indiana at UCLA; Nov. 29, Nebraska at Iowa
Whenever, BTN
No outlet will have more games than the conference network and with the depth of the conference the quality of the games that land there might be a little better than usual. Still, it most often feels like the place where your team’s games must show up from time to time just because it’s part of the contract.
That said, broadcast quality has increased in recent years and BTN does a good job focusing on the games. It knows the typical matchups are not things that attract casual viewers, and that’s good because there’s a little more football focus and a little less hype as a result.
- Top broadcasters: Jeff Levering, Mark Followill and Lisa Byington (play by play); Jake Butt, Yogi Roth, Matt Millen, J Leman (analysts)
- Games already set: Aug. 31, Indiana State at Purdue; Sept. 7, Bowling Green at Penn State; Sept. 14, Arkansas State at Michigan; Sept. 21, Northwestern at Washington; Sept. 28, Maryland at Indiana
Click here to see the complete Big Ten weekly schedule.
If you’ve enjoyed this content, please subscribe to Stuff Somers Says With Steve on YouTube. Or join our newsletter by entering your email below.