(09-02-2026 04:23 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:57 AM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:30 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 03:33 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 12:46 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  I still don't get the concept of "saying no" to Friday night games. I mean, I get it if it's in November, but you could slot PSU/OSU/Michigan each into one Sept or early October Friday night game, then give the West coast 4some the November slots. How much money would it be worth to the B1G to really develop Friday nights as a viable top tier broadcast window, and to do so with the first mover advantage? I think that will need to be spelled out in black and white in 2030.

I've never been to a Texas A&M home Saturday but I imagine its atmosphere is similar to State College. I can't imagine a lot of alumni and non students live in College Station and the majority of them probably live in large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston and their suburbs, very similar to Penn State alumni coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and their suburbs. It's very different getting them to come in on a Saturday vs. a Friday. We ask the same question about why there aren't more P4 vs. P4 games. A lot of the Penn State's and Texas A&M's want to play seven home games vs. six because one extra home game is big business in terms of ticket sales as well as for the local community. Moving the game to a Friday the school potentially loses on ticket sales or maybe they still sell but lose other revenue in other places (they may not stay the whole day and eat and shop). Why can't the networks just give the schools more money to make up for it? They can but they already have enough money. If I'm the networks, I'd rather try to buy out the cupcake games before I try to convince them to play Friday night games. Last year Texas-Ohio State drew 16 million. If Ohio State and Alabama played three Power games every year FOX (or ESPN) would be swimming in cash. Why doesn't it happen?

Do I think eventually Michigan and Ohio State will cave and play Friday night games. I won't say never. But we know they did push back on NBC's Saturday contract when it came to November night games.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ncertainty

Back in 2006 Ohio State and Michigan played a game on ABC at 3:30pm. They got an unheard of rating for a regular season game, over 21 million viewers!

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/11...ecord-fox/

You'd think ABC would be able to ask Ohio State and Michigan to play their game annually at 3:30pm. They've never had it at 3:30pm since then and it's not just FOX, it's been on ABC at noon even before FOX took over "The Game"! If Michigan and Ohio State won't even move a game to 3:30pm, good luck convincing them to play a Friday night game. To put something else in comparison, the Red River Rivalry was a noon game. Once Texas/Oklahoma went to the SEC, ABC moved the game to 3:30pm. It's been 3:30pm three years running. Last year ABC got the Iron Bowl to go to prime time after playing at 3:30pm most years. Yet ABC couldn't get Michigan-Ohio State to play at 3:30pm to benefit them.

Since NBC took over prime time,

Michigan played Purdue Nov. 4, 2023 (NBC) and Purdue Nov. 1, 2025 (BTN) in prime time. Both were the first week of November.

Ohio State played Michigan State Nov. 11, 2023 (NBC) and UCLA Nov. 15, 2025 (NBC) in prime time. They look like they would be more open.

The game I'm looking at this year is Michigan at Oregon Nov. 14, 2026. Obviously that game won't be the Big Nooner. If that game is not in prime time, I'll probably Michigan blocked it.

And NFL mentality doesn't necessarily work in college. NFL owners are mostly businessmen. College presidents and AD's do have some academics in their minds too. How many times do we talk about how Notre Dame would be better off in the Big Ten and also they'll never join a conference. If Notre Dame thought like NFL owners they'd be in the Big Ten or SEC right now. Could the trend be changing? Of course. This decade we've seen USC leave the Pac 12 for the Big 10 and Texas join the SEC. I'll believe anything. But Michigan has definitely pushed back a lot and we know Michigan is as "academic" as they come. Does Michigan have a price when it comes to Friday Night games. Yes. Their price is higher than any other Big Ten team.

I've said before Friday is the "4th" game. It will never replace Saturday. If the schools that "aren't good enough" for Saturday games want to play Friday, knock yourself out. The schools that are good enough shouldn't have to.

Oh yeah, you don't want to drive into town on game day, the traffic is nuts coming from San Antonio, Houston or Waco (DFW drivers go through Waco to get to College Station). If a game was on a Friday, it would be a huge hassle and people would no doubt complain, but I don't have season tickets so it wouldn't be nearly as much of a hassle for me. However, if it's announced in January, well, everyone has plenty of time to plan for it, and if you have season tickets then you're normally sneaking out of work at noon on Friday to beat the traffic into CS, anyway. Would it cost us actual tickets sold and/or gameday revenue? Would it hurt local businesses that rely on those 7 Saturdays a year for a huge % of their overall business? Ehhhh, depends on the game I think. We could take an SEC game like Auburn that SHOULD be a big ratings game but never gets more than 2-3m, an A&M vs Auburn game on a Friday night would sell out easily and would activate SEC fans everywhere to tune in, probably juicing the ratings for everybody. And any SEC game is such an event that I think the local businesses would still clean up, they'd just be crazy busy on Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday for that game. For the weather, if it's early November in College Station, it's probably really nice, which is unlikely to be the case in Pennsylvania or Michigan. Perhaps this is an idea for both conferences that just needs to be worked into the next agreements, and the individual schools can do some horse trading with the conferences and even media partners to sort things out then?

If it damages relations with rich alumni then its not worth it. It just isn't. And if Fox offers a "big" bonus for the Big Ten to get OSU involved and then only one eighteenth of it goes to OSU then it isn't a big bonus anymore, its a little bonus, not enough to offset what OSU loses. For the "lesser" schools that are struggling to get on network television there is that massive benefit that comes with the Friday games, for the larger programs there isn't. Interesting that Iowa have also banned Friday games but Nebraska hasn't. You'd think that both of them would have massive portions of their crowd coming from out of town and that both would be operating under the same general conditions in a way that, say, Illinois or Indiana aren't.

Great point about the TV revenue Beaver. Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN/ABC, Amazon, etc can throw all the money they want but under the current contracts media revenue is split evenly. I'm not sure how ticket sales are split in the conferences. What definitely isn't split evenly is the effect on local businesses. The State College's and College Station's and Tuscaloosa's depend hugely on the football teams these games. Maybe the only way to get the top schools to play Friday nighters is to give them a bigger share of the revenue pie to make up for the larger share of lost revenue from trading a Saturday game for a Friday game. Just offering 1/18 or 1/16 doesn't give them enough of an incentive.

But it’s not just complaining about Friday games.

People don’t want too many Big Noon games.

But then people also don’t want too many prime time games, especially when it gets cold in November.

And then people want a specific rivalry game to be at a specific time on top of it.

It never ends.

Once again, I’m not saying a single school *prefers* Friday games or even certain times on Saturday.

My point is that the private investors ARE coming and are already here in some cases, whether it’s private equity in the traditional sense or what LSU is looking to do in terms of providing equity to a handful of mega-contributors.

And when private investors come in, you no longer can say, “Eh - we’ll take a haircut on media revenue because we don’t like the time slots.” Those days will soon be over. When people invest in your team like an NFL franchise, then the bargain is that you need to maximize revenue like an NFL franchise… and the most *valuable* NFL teams are the ones that play on odd days and non-Sunday afternoon time slots the *most*. It’s essentially the *opposite* of college. A lot of people here clearly haven’t dealt with private equity - turning down what would clearly be additional money for personal preferences is simply not a choice with them.

(09-02-2026 04:23 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:57 AM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:30 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 03:33 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 12:46 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  I still don't get the concept of "saying no" to Friday night games. I mean, I get it if it's in November, but you could slot PSU/OSU/Michigan each into one Sept or early October Friday night game, then give the West coast 4some the November slots. How much money would it be worth to the B1G to really develop Friday nights as a viable top tier broadcast window, and to do so with the first mover advantage? I think that will need to be spelled out in black and white in 2030.

I've never been to a Texas A&M home Saturday but I imagine its atmosphere is similar to State College. I can't imagine a lot of alumni and non students live in College Station and the majority of them probably live in large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston and their suburbs, very similar to Penn State alumni coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and their suburbs. It's very different getting them to come in on a Saturday vs. a Friday. We ask the same question about why there aren't more P4 vs. P4 games. A lot of the Penn State's and Texas A&M's want to play seven home games vs. six because one extra home game is big business in terms of ticket sales as well as for the local community. Moving the game to a Friday the school potentially loses on ticket sales or maybe they still sell but lose other revenue in other places (they may not stay the whole day and eat and shop). Why can't the networks just give the schools more money to make up for it? They can but they already have enough money. If I'm the networks, I'd rather try to buy out the cupcake games before I try to convince them to play Friday night games. Last year Texas-Ohio State drew 16 million. If Ohio State and Alabama played three Power games every year FOX (or ESPN) would be swimming in cash. Why doesn't it happen?

Do I think eventually Michigan and Ohio State will cave and play Friday night games. I won't say never. But we know they did push back on NBC's Saturday contract when it came to November night games.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ncertainty

Back in 2006 Ohio State and Michigan played a game on ABC at 3:30pm. They got an unheard of rating for a regular season game, over 21 million viewers!

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/11...ecord-fox/

You'd think ABC would be able to ask Ohio State and Michigan to play their game annually at 3:30pm. They've never had it at 3:30pm since then and it's not just FOX, it's been on ABC at noon even before FOX took over "The Game"! If Michigan and Ohio State won't even move a game to 3:30pm, good luck convincing them to play a Friday night game. To put something else in comparison, the Red River Rivalry was a noon game. Once Texas/Oklahoma went to the SEC, ABC moved the game to 3:30pm. It's been 3:30pm three years running. Last year ABC got the Iron Bowl to go to prime time after playing at 3:30pm most years. Yet ABC couldn't get Michigan-Ohio State to play at 3:30pm to benefit them.

Since NBC took over prime time,

Michigan played Purdue Nov. 4, 2023 (NBC) and Purdue Nov. 1, 2025 (BTN) in prime time. Both were the first week of November.

Ohio State played Michigan State Nov. 11, 2023 (NBC) and UCLA Nov. 15, 2025 (NBC) in prime time. They look like they would be more open.

The game I'm looking at this year is Michigan at Oregon Nov. 14, 2026. Obviously that game won't be the Big Nooner. If that game is not in prime time, I'll probably Michigan blocked it.

And NFL mentality doesn't necessarily work in college. NFL owners are mostly businessmen. College presidents and AD's do have some academics in their minds too. How many times do we talk about how Notre Dame would be better off in the Big Ten and also they'll never join a conference. If Notre Dame thought like NFL owners they'd be in the Big Ten or SEC right now. Could the trend be changing? Of course. This decade we've seen USC leave the Pac 12 for the Big 10 and Texas join the SEC. I'll believe anything. But Michigan has definitely pushed back a lot and we know Michigan is as "academic" as they come. Does Michigan have a price when it comes to Friday Night games. Yes. Their price is higher than any other Big Ten team.

I've said before Friday is the "4th" game. It will never replace Saturday. If the schools that "aren't good enough" for Saturday games want to play Friday, knock yourself out. The schools that are good enough shouldn't have to.

Oh yeah, you don't want to drive into town on game day, the traffic is nuts coming from San Antonio, Houston or Waco (DFW drivers go through Waco to get to College Station). If a game was on a Friday, it would be a huge hassle and people would no doubt complain, but I don't have season tickets so it wouldn't be nearly as much of a hassle for me. However, if it's announced in January, well, everyone has plenty of time to plan for it, and if you have season tickets then you're normally sneaking out of work at noon on Friday to beat the traffic into CS, anyway. Would it cost us actual tickets sold and/or gameday revenue? Would it hurt local businesses that rely on those 7 Saturdays a year for a huge % of their overall business? Ehhhh, depends on the game I think. We could take an SEC game like Auburn that SHOULD be a big ratings game but never gets more than 2-3m, an A&M vs Auburn game on a Friday night would sell out easily and would activate SEC fans everywhere to tune in, probably juicing the ratings for everybody. And any SEC game is such an event that I think the local businesses would still clean up, they'd just be crazy busy on Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday for that game. For the weather, if it's early November in College Station, it's probably really nice, which is unlikely to be the case in Pennsylvania or Michigan. Perhaps this is an idea for both conferences that just needs to be worked into the next agreements, and the individual schools can do some horse trading with the conferences and even media partners to sort things out then?

If it damages relations with rich alumni then its not worth it. It just isn't. And if Fox offers a "big" bonus for the Big Ten to get OSU involved and then only one eighteenth of it goes to OSU then it isn't a big bonus anymore, its a little bonus, not enough to offset what OSU loses. For the "lesser" schools that are struggling to get on network television there is that massive benefit that comes with the Friday games, for the larger programs there isn't. Interesting that Iowa have also banned Friday games but Nebraska hasn't. You'd think that both of them would have massive portions of their crowd coming from out of town and that both would be operating under the same general conditions in a way that, say, Illinois or Indiana aren't.

Great point about the TV revenue Beaver. Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN/ABC, Amazon, etc can throw all the money they want but under the current contracts media revenue is split evenly. I'm not sure how ticket sales are split in the conferences. What definitely isn't split evenly is the effect on local businesses. The State College's and College Station's and Tuscaloosa's depend hugely on the football teams these games. Maybe the only way to get the top schools to play Friday nighters is to give them a bigger share of the revenue pie to make up for the larger share of lost revenue from trading a Saturday game for a Friday game. Just offering 1/18 or 1/16 doesn't give them enough of an incentive.

Interesting point by Beaver about the different choices made by Iowa and Nebraska. Perhaps they both polled their season ticket holders and got different results?

Good points by both of you about the potential benefits vs costs for the football factories. As I said above, it might just need to get negotiated into the next contracts. If you put everyone in the rotation, that's roughly one game per year if it's only for Conference games, perhaps a bit less often than once per year if there are nonconference games in there. How much is a 4th (potentially) huge slot for the networks? Perhaps not valuable enough for the SEC or B1G, but it could become the #1 slot for the ACC or the Big 12. Yes, there are lots of hassles with Fridays instead of Saturdays, and it's a pain for hosting recruits, but the potential media exposure and media $$ from a prime time slot with no P2 competition might be hard for them to pass up. And if I have the choice of a mid-pack P2 school or the best of the ACC and Big 12 every Friday, I'll probably watch the M2 schools unless my Aggies are playing (or I'm hate watching LSU, who might play 11 games on Friday next season).

(09-01-2026 03:33 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 12:46 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  I still don't get the concept of "saying no" to Friday night games. I mean, I get it if it's in November, but you could slot PSU/OSU/Michigan each into one Sept or early October Friday night game, then give the West coast 4some the November slots. How much money would it be worth to the B1G to really develop Friday nights as a viable top tier broadcast window, and to do so with the first mover advantage? I think that will need to be spelled out in black and white in 2030.

I've never been to a Texas A&M home Saturday but I imagine its atmosphere is similar to State College. I can't imagine a lot of alumni and non students live in College Station and the majority of them probably live in large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston and their suburbs, very similar to Penn State alumni coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and their suburbs. It's very different getting them to come in on a Saturday vs. a Friday. We ask the same question about why there aren't more P4 vs. P4 games. A lot of the Penn State's and Texas A&M's want to play seven home games vs. six because one extra home game is big business in terms of ticket sales as well as for the local community. Moving the game to a Friday the school potentially loses on ticket sales or maybe they still sell but lose other revenue in other places (they may not stay the whole day and eat and shop). Why can't the networks just give the schools more money to make up for it? They can but they already have enough money. If I'm the networks, I'd rather try to buy out the cupcake games before I try to convince them to play Friday night games. Last year Texas-Ohio State drew 16 million. If Ohio State and Alabama played three Power games every year FOX (or ESPN) would be swimming in cash. Why doesn't it happen?

Do I think eventually Michigan and Ohio State will cave and play Friday night games. I won't say never. But we know they did push back on NBC's Saturday contract when it came to November night games.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ncertainty

Back in 2006 Ohio State and Michigan played a game on ABC at 3:30pm. They got an unheard of rating for a regular season game, over 21 million viewers!

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/11...ecord-fox/

You'd think ABC would be able to ask Ohio State and Michigan to play their game annually at 3:30pm. They've never had it at 3:30pm since then and it's not just FOX, it's been on ABC at noon even before FOX took over "The Game"! If Michigan and Ohio State won't even move a game to 3:30pm, good luck convincing them to play a Friday night game. To put something else in comparison, the Red River Rivalry was a noon game. Once Texas/Oklahoma went to the SEC, ABC moved the game to 3:30pm. It's been 3:30pm three years running. Last year ABC got the Iron Bowl to go to prime time after playing at 3:30pm most years. Yet ABC couldn't get Michigan-Ohio State to play at 3:30pm to benefit them.

Since NBC took over prime time,

Michigan played Purdue Nov. 4, 2023 (NBC) and Purdue Nov. 1, 2025 (BTN) in prime time. Both were the first week of November.

Ohio State played Michigan State Nov. 11, 2023 (NBC) and UCLA Nov. 15, 2025 (NBC) in prime time. They look like they would be more open.

The game I'm looking at this year is Michigan at Oregon Nov. 14, 2026. Obviously that game won't be the Big Nooner. If that game is not in prime time, I'll probably Michigan blocked it.

And NFL mentality doesn't necessarily work in college. NFL owners are mostly businessmen. College presidents and AD's do have some academics in their minds too. How many times do we talk about how Notre Dame would be better off in the Big Ten and also they'll never join a conference. If Notre Dame thought like NFL owners they'd be in the Big Ten or SEC right now. Could the trend be changing? Of course. This decade we've seen USC leave the Pac 12 for the Big 10 and Texas join the SEC. I'll believe anything. But Michigan has definitely pushed back a lot and we know Michigan is as "academic" as they come. Does Michigan have a price when it comes to Friday Night games. Yes. Their price is higher than any other Big Ten team.

I've said before Friday is the "4th" game. It will never replace Saturday. If the schools that "aren't good enough" for Saturday games want to play Friday, knock yourself out. The schools that are good enough shouldn't have to.

"Better off in the Big Ten."

ND is #3 in total revenues in the country and makes a $45 million profit per year. (see EADA filings)

It generates $289 million a year, with its football program making more money than any other college football program in the country.

It is 24-4 in the last two seasons. 34-7 in the last three seasons. ND is 97-21 (.822) since 2016.

It is #2 in recruiting this year. It was #2 in recruiting last year.

It has an individual seat on the CFP Committee and its own individual TV and playoff deals.

It is getting $20 million a year for a patch and just opened a state-of-the-art $100 million football-only facility, paid in full by donors.

How much "better off" does ND need to be? It seems to be doing pretty well.

(It looks to me like the people who run ND athletics seem to know what they are doing---"academics", or not)

It does all of the above and still stays independent, free from all this conference BS.

(See Big 12 (Sorsby), Big Ten (private equity), and SEC (Kiffin) offseason drama)

This is all being done without football having to rely on being in a collective to achieve these things.

It also doesn't have to bend the knee/surrender to the Big Ten after a 35-year battle and torpedo its identity, brand, and history to do this.

Also, on TV flexibility, this is the second straight opening Labor Day Sunday night game for ND, and it has many other prime-time games scheduled.

(It seems like the "academics" at ND may be more open, flexible, and "modern" on this issue than some Big Ten schools)

(09-04-2026 09:01 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 03:33 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 12:46 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  I still don't get the concept of "saying no" to Friday night games. I mean, I get it if it's in November, but you could slot PSU/OSU/Michigan each into one Sept or early October Friday night game, then give the West coast 4some the November slots. How much money would it be worth to the B1G to really develop Friday nights as a viable top tier broadcast window, and to do so with the first mover advantage? I think that will need to be spelled out in black and white in 2030.

I've never been to a Texas A&M home Saturday but I imagine its atmosphere is similar to State College. I can't imagine a lot of alumni and non students live in College Station and the majority of them probably live in large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston and their suburbs, very similar to Penn State alumni coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and their suburbs. It's very different getting them to come in on a Saturday vs. a Friday. We ask the same question about why there aren't more P4 vs. P4 games. A lot of the Penn State's and Texas A&M's want to play seven home games vs. six because one extra home game is big business in terms of ticket sales as well as for the local community. Moving the game to a Friday the school potentially loses on ticket sales or maybe they still sell but lose other revenue in other places (they may not stay the whole day and eat and shop). Why can't the networks just give the schools more money to make up for it? They can but they already have enough money. If I'm the networks, I'd rather try to buy out the cupcake games before I try to convince them to play Friday night games. Last year Texas-Ohio State drew 16 million. If Ohio State and Alabama played three Power games every year FOX (or ESPN) would be swimming in cash. Why doesn't it happen?

Do I think eventually Michigan and Ohio State will cave and play Friday night games. I won't say never. But we know they did push back on NBC's Saturday contract when it came to November night games.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ncertainty

Back in 2006 Ohio State and Michigan played a game on ABC at 3:30pm. They got an unheard of rating for a regular season game, over 21 million viewers!

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/11...ecord-fox/

You'd think ABC would be able to ask Ohio State and Michigan to play their game annually at 3:30pm. They've never had it at 3:30pm since then and it's not just FOX, it's been on ABC at noon even before FOX took over "The Game"! If Michigan and Ohio State won't even move a game to 3:30pm, good luck convincing them to play a Friday night game. To put something else in comparison, the Red River Rivalry was a noon game. Once Texas/Oklahoma went to the SEC, ABC moved the game to 3:30pm. It's been 3:30pm three years running. Last year ABC got the Iron Bowl to go to prime time after playing at 3:30pm most years. Yet ABC couldn't get Michigan-Ohio State to play at 3:30pm to benefit them.

Since NBC took over prime time,

Michigan played Purdue Nov. 4, 2023 (NBC) and Purdue Nov. 1, 2025 (BTN) in prime time. Both were the first week of November.

Ohio State played Michigan State Nov. 11, 2023 (NBC) and UCLA Nov. 15, 2025 (NBC) in prime time. They look like they would be more open.

The game I'm looking at this year is Michigan at Oregon Nov. 14, 2026. Obviously that game won't be the Big Nooner. If that game is not in prime time, I'll probably Michigan blocked it.

And NFL mentality doesn't necessarily work in college. NFL owners are mostly businessmen. College presidents and AD's do have some academics in their minds too. How many times do we talk about how Notre Dame would be better off in the Big Ten and also they'll never join a conference. If Notre Dame thought like NFL owners they'd be in the Big Ten or SEC right now. Could the trend be changing? Of course. This decade we've seen USC leave the Pac 12 for the Big 10 and Texas join the SEC. I'll believe anything. But Michigan has definitely pushed back a lot and we know Michigan is as "academic" as they come. Does Michigan have a price when it comes to Friday Night games. Yes. Their price is higher than any other Big Ten team.

I've said before Friday is the "4th" game. It will never replace Saturday. If the schools that "aren't good enough" for Saturday games want to play Friday, knock yourself out. The schools that are good enough shouldn't have to.

"Better off in the Big Ten."

ND is #3 in total revenues in the country and makes a $45 million profit per year. (see EADA filings)

It generates $289 million a year, with its football program making more money than any other program in the country.

It is 24-4 in the last two seasons. 34-7 in the last three.

It is #2 in recruiting this year. It was #2 in recruiting last year.

It has an individual seat on the CFP Committee and its own TV deal and playoff deal.

It is getting $20 million a year for a patch and just opened a state-of-the-art $100 million football-only facility, paid in full by donors.

How much "better off" does ND need to be?

(It looks to me like the people who run ND athletics seem to know what they are doing---"academics", or not)

It does all of the above and still gets to stay independent, free from all this conference BS.

(See Big 12 (Sorsby), Big Ten (private equity), and SEC (Kiffin) offseason drama)

This is all being done without football having to rely on being in a collective to achieve these things.

It also doesn't have to bend the knee/surrender to the Big Ten after a 35-year battle and torpedo its identity, brand, and history to do this.

Also, on TV flexibility, this is the second straight opening Labor Day Sunday game for ND, and it has many prime-time games scheduled.

(It seems like the "academics" at ND may be more open, flexible, and "modern" on this issue than some Big Ten schools)

Cheapest ticket for ND-Wisconsin is $172, the highest "cheapest ticket" price of any week 1 game, at least according to ESPN:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/sc..._/group/80

Sept. 26 Speculation:

ABC:
Texas at Tennessee, noon (Time slot announced), Texas A&M at LSU, 3:30pm, Oklahoma at Georgia, SNF

The last two games could easily be switched. Lane Kiffin mania is an easy sell. Oklahoma winning or losing vs. Michigan certainly will help or hurt their case for SNF.

Big Ten:
Illinois at Ohio State, FOX Big Nooner, Iowa at Michigan, CBS 3:30pm, Oregon at USC, NBC 7:30pm

I don't know who gets top pick but CBS had the top pick Week 4 in 2024 and 2025. Which game is most attractive? Again it seems like a toss up. A lot could depend on whether Michigan loses or wins vs. Oklahoma. We know Oregon-USC won't be the Big Nooner.

Other SEC:
ESPN: Mississippi at Florida, 3:30pm, South Carolina at Alabama, 7pm (Assigned to Night Window)
SECN: South Alabama at Kentucky, 12:45pm (Announced), Vanderbilt at Auburn (Assigned to Afternoon Window), Missouri at Mississippi State (Assigned to Night Window)
SECN+: Tulsa at Arkansas, 8pm (Announced)

Other Big Ten:
FOX Friday. Sept. 25 8pm: Northwestern at Indiana
BTN Friday, Sept. 25: Howard at Rutgers

BTN has two Saturday windows, 1:30pm and 5pm and women's volleyball in prime time.

FS1 is committed to NASCAR at noon

Matt Szarniak lists noon and 3:30pm as possibilities for NBC/Peacock. NBC has to make up three games for Notre Dame pre-emptions but two of them were for San Jose State-USC Week 0 and Washington State-Washington Sunday (Today:) They also get another game in exchange for selling the Big Ten Championship back to FOX. So NBC could have a 2nd Big Ten game this week. There is a Notre Dame at Purdue game which would be great for them. They could also take it and Peacock it. NBC doesn't have a Peacock exclusive this year for Notre Dame so this is a way for NBC to get one. Or they could figure everyone who wants Peacock has it and forget using it to blackmail fans altogether.

With Wisconsin at Penn State falling down in the Big Ten list, it would make sense for it to go to BTN to get their BTN game out of the way although PSU still has both Purdue and Rutgers on their schedule.

NBC/Peacock: Notre Dame at Purdue, noon or 3:30pm
BTN: Wisconsin at Penn State, Nebraska at Michigan State
FS1: UCLA at Maryland, Minnesota at Washington (UCLA will be scheduled away from USC)

Another possibility is Minnesota at Washington airing after women's volleyball on BTN. BTN is airing 11pm ET games Weeks 2 and 3.

FOX is committed to MLB in prime time so they will have only an afternoon window for the Big 12.

CBS is airing Arizona at Washington State in prime time.

Oklahoma's loss puts Texas A&M-LSU as the most attractive game right now. If I were ESPN, I'd probably make that the SNF game. Now Mississippi could beat LSU next Saturday and both teams would have one loss going into their Week 4 games. It certainly justifies using a six day hold. Or they could just ride the Lane Train and say who cares if they lose?

Oregon's loss means their value plummets although they are still playing USC Week 4. I think it will still draw reasonably. As for FOX choosing Oklahoma-Michigan over Oregon-Ohio State, it now looks like the right decision.

If Alabama blows it to Kentucky and goes in the tank, ESPN/ABC is going to be crying all season. How much is Kalen's buyout?

Since none of you would not dare mention Mississippi State, I’ll break the avoidance to your displeasure.

Miss State 31

@

MINNESOTA 13

late 3rd

(09-04-2026 07:52 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 04:23 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:57 AM)The Beaver Wrote:  

(09-02-2026 12:30 AM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-01-2026 03:33 PM)schmolik Wrote:  I've never been to a Texas A&M home Saturday but I imagine its atmosphere is similar to State College. I can't imagine a lot of alumni and non students live in College Station and the majority of them probably live in large Texas cities like Dallas and Houston and their suburbs, very similar to Penn State alumni coming from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and their suburbs. It's very different getting them to come in on a Saturday vs. a Friday. We ask the same question about why there aren't more P4 vs. P4 games. A lot of the Penn State's and Texas A&M's want to play seven home games vs. six because one extra home game is big business in terms of ticket sales as well as for the local community. Moving the game to a Friday the school potentially loses on ticket sales or maybe they still sell but lose other revenue in other places (they may not stay the whole day and eat and shop). Why can't the networks just give the schools more money to make up for it? They can but they already have enough money. If I'm the networks, I'd rather try to buy out the cupcake games before I try to convince them to play Friday night games. Last year Texas-Ohio State drew 16 million. If Ohio State and Alabama played three Power games every year FOX (or ESPN) would be swimming in cash. Why doesn't it happen?

Do I think eventually Michigan and Ohio State will cave and play Friday night games. I won't say never. But we know they did push back on NBC's Saturday contract when it came to November night games.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ncertainty

Back in 2006 Ohio State and Michigan played a game on ABC at 3:30pm. They got an unheard of rating for a regular season game, over 21 million viewers!

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2023/11...ecord-fox/

You'd think ABC would be able to ask Ohio State and Michigan to play their game annually at 3:30pm. They've never had it at 3:30pm since then and it's not just FOX, it's been on ABC at noon even before FOX took over "The Game"! If Michigan and Ohio State won't even move a game to 3:30pm, good luck convincing them to play a Friday night game. To put something else in comparison, the Red River Rivalry was a noon game. Once Texas/Oklahoma went to the SEC, ABC moved the game to 3:30pm. It's been 3:30pm three years running. Last year ABC got the Iron Bowl to go to prime time after playing at 3:30pm most years. Yet ABC couldn't get Michigan-Ohio State to play at 3:30pm to benefit them.

Since NBC took over prime time,

Michigan played Purdue Nov. 4, 2023 (NBC) and Purdue Nov. 1, 2025 (BTN) in prime time. Both were the first week of November.

Ohio State played Michigan State Nov. 11, 2023 (NBC) and UCLA Nov. 15, 2025 (NBC) in prime time. They look like they would be more open.

The game I'm looking at this year is Michigan at Oregon Nov. 14, 2026. Obviously that game won't be the Big Nooner. If that game is not in prime time, I'll probably Michigan blocked it.

And NFL mentality doesn't necessarily work in college. NFL owners are mostly businessmen. College presidents and AD's do have some academics in their minds too. How many times do we talk about how Notre Dame would be better off in the Big Ten and also they'll never join a conference. If Notre Dame thought like NFL owners they'd be in the Big Ten or SEC right now. Could the trend be changing? Of course. This decade we've seen USC leave the Pac 12 for the Big 10 and Texas join the SEC. I'll believe anything. But Michigan has definitely pushed back a lot and we know Michigan is as "academic" as they come. Does Michigan have a price when it comes to Friday Night games. Yes. Their price is higher than any other Big Ten team.

I've said before Friday is the "4th" game. It will never replace Saturday. If the schools that "aren't good enough" for Saturday games want to play Friday, knock yourself out. The schools that are good enough shouldn't have to.

Oh yeah, you don't want to drive into town on game day, the traffic is nuts coming from San Antonio, Houston or Waco (DFW drivers go through Waco to get to College Station). If a game was on a Friday, it would be a huge hassle and people would no doubt complain, but I don't have season tickets so it wouldn't be nearly as much of a hassle for me. However, if it's announced in January, well, everyone has plenty of time to plan for it, and if you have season tickets then you're normally sneaking out of work at noon on Friday to beat the traffic into CS, anyway. Would it cost us actual tickets sold and/or gameday revenue? Would it hurt local businesses that rely on those 7 Saturdays a year for a huge % of their overall business? Ehhhh, depends on the game I think. We could take an SEC game like Auburn that SHOULD be a big ratings game but never gets more than 2-3m, an A&M vs Auburn game on a Friday night would sell out easily and would activate SEC fans everywhere to tune in, probably juicing the ratings for everybody. And any SEC game is such an event that I think the local businesses would still clean up, they'd just be crazy busy on Friday and Saturday instead of Saturday and Sunday for that game. For the weather, if it's early November in College Station, it's probably really nice, which is unlikely to be the case in Pennsylvania or Michigan. Perhaps this is an idea for both conferences that just needs to be worked into the next agreements, and the individual schools can do some horse trading with the conferences and even media partners to sort things out then?

If it damages relations with rich alumni then its not worth it. It just isn't. And if Fox offers a "big" bonus for the Big Ten to get OSU involved and then only one eighteenth of it goes to OSU then it isn't a big bonus anymore, its a little bonus, not enough to offset what OSU loses. For the "lesser" schools that are struggling to get on network television there is that massive benefit that comes with the Friday games, for the larger programs there isn't. Interesting that Iowa have also banned Friday games but Nebraska hasn't. You'd think that both of them would have massive portions of their crowd coming from out of town and that both would be operating under the same general conditions in a way that, say, Illinois or Indiana aren't.

Great point about the TV revenue Beaver. Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN/ABC, Amazon, etc can throw all the money they want but under the current contracts media revenue is split evenly. I'm not sure how ticket sales are split in the conferences. What definitely isn't split evenly is the effect on local businesses. The State College's and College Station's and Tuscaloosa's depend hugely on the football teams these games. Maybe the only way to get the top schools to play Friday nighters is to give them a bigger share of the revenue pie to make up for the larger share of lost revenue from trading a Saturday game for a Friday game. Just offering 1/18 or 1/16 doesn't give them enough of an incentive.

But it’s not just complaining about Friday games.

People don’t want too many Big Noon games.

But then people also don’t want too many prime time games, especially when it gets cold in November.

And then people want a specific rivalry game to be at a specific time on top of it.

It never ends.

Once again, I’m not saying a single school *prefers* Friday games or even certain times on Saturday.

My point is that the private investors ARE coming and are already here in some cases, whether it’s private equity in the traditional sense or what LSU is looking to do in terms of providing equity to a handful of mega-contributors.

And when private investors come in, you no longer can say, “Eh - we’ll take a haircut on media revenue because we don’t like the time slots.” Those days will soon be over. When people invest in your team like an NFL franchise, then the bargain is that you need to maximize revenue like an NFL franchise… and the most *valuable* NFL teams are the ones that play on odd days and non-Sunday afternoon time slots the *most*. It’s essentially the *opposite* of college. A lot of people here clearly haven’t dealt with private equity - turning down what would clearly be additional money for personal preferences is simply not a choice with them.

You say major league football is the comparison, I say that if you're not careful it becomes minor league baseball. For big programs with big egos that care about maintaining mega-donor support its a different calculus than poor sisters just along for the ride. And those "annoying" traditions, hoops to jump through, traditions and rivalries to maintain, gameday atmosphere, etc, are what lead to lifelong fans that eventually become five and six figure donors. They're literally what you're buying when you buy college athletics. The money from the "novel" revenue streams PI was supposed to be making from the proposed Big Ten deal was from on-campus advertising and other branding stuff. You're buying the brand and the brand is stuff like night-time white outs, a full Big House, the Big Game being played at the exact same time every year, the Cyhawk, the Apple Cup, the Rose Bowl. We also know who turned down PI when the Big Ten tried it last year and it was two of the "Big 4" (or Big 5/6, though the clock is ticking on Nebraska to maintain status and Oregon's failed to really clear the gap conclusively.) Michigan is no speed bump, they aren't going to give up a nickel so Minnesota can make a dime.

According to Matt Sarznyiak's site, NBC's Todd Blacklidge informally confirmed NBC has Oregon/USC (as well as USC/Penn State, which Penn State announced but NBC has not confirmed).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbwkfWamP24&t=1290s

This was my prediction already.

Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

(09-13-2026 08:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

That’s pretty much impossible considering that the network with the first 3 picks of the year plus paying them the most is Fox at Big Noon.

I go the complete opposite way for the Big Ten: other than there shouldn’t ever be a Pacific Time Zone game in the Big Noon time slot, there should be zero restrictions and maximum flexibility for Saturday time slots. If certain schools don’t like it, then feel free to return a percentage of the TV money that they’re getting to compensate for the value that the network partners are losing by not having access to certain games. When you get paid this much by freaking Fox, CBS, *and* NBC with freaking national over-the-air exposure, then there should be zero whining. None. Zero. Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever on any level. Tell the G6 schools or even ACC or Big 12 teams about these supposed complaints of, “Ugh - why do we need to play in so many national TV games?” I have little tolerance for those that look a gift horse in the mouth.

(09-13-2026 09:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-13-2026 08:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

That’s pretty much impossible considering that the network with the first 3 picks of the year plus paying them the most is Fox at Big Noon.

I go the complete opposite way for the Big Ten: other than there shouldn’t ever be a Pacific Time Zone game in the Big Noon time slot, there should be zero restrictions and maximum flexibility for Saturday time slots. If certain schools don’t like it, then feel free to return a percentage of the TV money that they’re getting to compensate for the value that the network partners are losing by not having access to certain games. When you get paid this much by freaking Fox, CBS, *and* NBC with freaking national over-the-air exposure, then there should be zero whining. None. Zero. Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever on any level. Tell the G6 schools or even ACC or Big 12 teams about these supposed complaints of, “Ugh - why do we need to play in so many national TV games?” I have little tolerance for those that look a gift horse in the mouth.

You sound like management when you make statements like these. "We pay you so do as we say... " In any boss-employee relationship the boss pays but the employee provides the service. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State probably don't think FOX is doing them a favor, they think they're doing FOX a favor. Last year's Big Ten Championship and UM-OSU both got 18 million viewers while Texas-OSU got 16 million. Where would FOX be college football wise without the Big Ten? You think anyone would care about Big Nooners if every week was a Big 12 game?

The Big Ten certainly is grateful for their broadcast partners but they're not going to just bow down and take crap against their best interests either. We know Michigan and Ohio State have pushed back against November night games and neither are playing a Friday night game this season.

I see the Big Ten FOX relationship as a partnership not a FOX makes the rules and the Big Ten is expected to follow. If FOX wants to be a dictator, there's nothing stopping the Big Ten from dropping them and going with CBS and NBC. Remember the Big Ten dropped ESPN last time and everyone thought they were nuts and it seemed to have worked out for them. Do the networks have a lot of power? Sure. But the conferences also have power. It's a competitive market on both ends. I would say the Big 10 has an advantage now that there's only "two" of them and four major broadcast partners (five if you count Amazon). Of course there's plenty of other sports outside of colleges.

There's a reason the SEC can have more flexibility in when their games are. They don't play regular Friday Night games. Meanwhile, look at the MAC. That's the conference that gets told when to play. The Big Ten should be more like the SEC and less like the MAC.

(09-13-2026 10:07 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-13-2026 09:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-13-2026 08:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

That’s pretty much impossible considering that the network with the first 3 picks of the year plus paying them the most is Fox at Big Noon.

I go the complete opposite way for the Big Ten: other than there shouldn’t ever be a Pacific Time Zone game in the Big Noon time slot, there should be zero restrictions and maximum flexibility for Saturday time slots. If certain schools don’t like it, then feel free to return a percentage of the TV money that they’re getting to compensate for the value that the network partners are losing by not having access to certain games. When you get paid this much by freaking Fox, CBS, *and* NBC with freaking national over-the-air exposure, then there should be zero whining. None. Zero. Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever on any level. Tell the G6 schools or even ACC or Big 12 teams about these supposed complaints of, “Ugh - why do we need to play in so many national TV games?” I have little tolerance for those that look a gift horse in the mouth.

You sound like management when you make statements like these. "We pay you so do as we say... " In any boss-employee relationship the boss pays but the employee provides the service. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State probably don't think FOX is doing them a favor, they think they're doing FOX a favor. Last year's Big Ten Championship and UM-OSU both got 18 million viewers while Texas-OSU got 16 million. Where would FOX be college football wise without the Big Ten? You think anyone would care about Big Nooners if every week was a Big 12 game?

The Big Ten certainly is grateful for their broadcast partners but they're not going to just bow down and take crap against their best interests either. We know Michigan and Ohio State have pushed back against November night games and neither are playing a Friday night game this season.

I see the Big Ten FOX relationship as a partnership not a FOX makes the rules and the Big Ten is expected to follow. If FOX wants to be a dictator, there's nothing stopping the Big Ten from dropping them and going with CBS and NBC. Remember the Big Ten dropped ESPN last time and everyone thought they were nuts and it seemed to have worked out for them. Do the networks have a lot of power? Sure. But the conferences also have power. It's a competitive market on both ends. I would say the Big 10 has an advantage now that there's only "two" of them and four major broadcast partners (five if you count Amazon). Of course there's plenty of other sports outside of colleges.

There's a reason the SEC can have more flexibility in when their games are. They don't play regular Friday Night games. Meanwhile, look at the MAC. That's the conference that gets told when to play. The Big Ten should be more like the SEC and less like the MAC.

Of course I sound like management here.

You’re not recognizing a fundamental difference between the Big Ten and SEC media deals: the SEC is only dealing with one media partner - ESPN - and the combo of two deals that were respectively signed 13 and 5 years ago at amounts that are far undervalued than what they would get paid in the open market today. The SEC isn’t playing Friday night games because they’re not getting paid for them due to their ESPN deal being so old. Believe me that when the current ESPN contract is finally done in 7 years, the SEC will have a Friday night package. Finally, the SEC is only guaranteed 1 game on ABC per week. The other two time slots can be put on either ABC or ESPN at ESPN’s discretion. Now, ESPN often chooses at least 1 and often 2 other SEC games for ABC, but they aren’t guaranteed by contract. The SEC is getting paid less by one single media partner and also fewer guarantees for over-the-air coverage, so there’s more tolerance for time slot requests/demands from schools.

This is much different than the Big Ten. The B1G got paid top of the market pricing by three different networks that have each *guaranteed* them an over-the-air time slot for the entire day of Saturday. The only other sports entity on America that has this setup and exposure is literally the NFL. So, yes, the Big Ten is being paid to provide a top product, so any whining from the members that would result in the Big Ten not providing a top product for every single time slot on every single Saturday should be ignored. That’s fine if certain teams don’t want to host Friday night games, but playing wherever they are told on Saturday when they are being paid at the very top of the market with maximum exposure is a base level expectation.

This isn’t management dealing with employee relations and massaging egos. That’s crap. Playing wherever they’re told when the Big Ten is getting paid this much by 3 different networks with guaranteed over-the-air coverage is the *job* of the employees. Zero sympathy again for any complaints. Absolutely zero.

(09-13-2026 08:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

It's interesting. I don't like playing on noon in August, but in October or especially November it's fine. Presumably the B1G schools prefer noon or 3:30 games to 7:30 games in November.

(09-13-2026 10:07 PM)schmolik Wrote:  

(09-13-2026 09:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-13-2026 08:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Further conforming what I have been saying previously about the SEC...

I think the Big Ten should try to do something similar although it would be tougher because they have multiple partners.

That’s pretty much impossible considering that the network with the first 3 picks of the year plus paying them the most is Fox at Big Noon.

I go the complete opposite way for the Big Ten: other than there shouldn’t ever be a Pacific Time Zone game in the Big Noon time slot, there should be zero restrictions and maximum flexibility for Saturday time slots. If certain schools don’t like it, then feel free to return a percentage of the TV money that they’re getting to compensate for the value that the network partners are losing by not having access to certain games. When you get paid this much by freaking Fox, CBS, *and* NBC with freaking national over-the-air exposure, then there should be zero whining. None. Zero. Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever on any level. Tell the G6 schools or even ACC or Big 12 teams about these supposed complaints of, “Ugh - why do we need to play in so many national TV games?” I have little tolerance for those that look a gift horse in the mouth.

You sound like management when you make statements like these. "We pay you so do as we say... " In any boss-employee relationship the boss pays but the employee provides the service. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State probably don't think FOX is doing them a favor, they think they're doing FOX a favor. Last year's Big Ten Championship and UM-OSU both got 18 million viewers while Texas-OSU got 16 million. Where would FOX be college football wise without the Big Ten? You think anyone would care about Big Nooners if every week was a Big 12 game?

The Big Ten certainly is grateful for their broadcast partners but they're not going to just bow down and take crap against their best interests either. We know Michigan and Ohio State have pushed back against November night games and neither are playing a Friday night game this season.

I see the Big Ten FOX relationship as a partnership not a FOX makes the rules and the Big Ten is expected to follow. If FOX wants to be a dictator, there's nothing stopping the Big Ten from dropping them and going with CBS and NBC. Remember the Big Ten dropped ESPN last time and everyone thought they were nuts and it seemed to have worked out for them. Do the networks have a lot of power? Sure. But the conferences also have power. It's a competitive market on both ends. I would say the Big 10 has an advantage now that there's only "two" of them and four major broadcast partners (five if you count Amazon). Of course there's plenty of other sports outside of colleges.

There's a reason the SEC can have more flexibility in when their games are. They don't play regular Friday Night games. Meanwhile, look at the MAC. That's the conference that gets told when to play. The Big Ten should be more like the SEC and less like the MAC.

The SEC gets less money in part b/c of that greater game time certainty. I'd rather have the additional money from a larger media rights deal for the school. Put us on every Saturday at noon or every Friday night at 7:30, whatever, just pay us enough that we don't have to hawk our firstborns to keep up with OSU in spending.

Mondays are Christmas for this thread! Here's your first presents!

Big Ten:


SEC:


Big 12:


ACC:
https://theacc.com/news/2026/9/14/acc-fo...unced.aspx

Later in the day game with Wisconsin? Could be a good one to attend live and avoid the peacocking.

Saw this on Twitter/X

Other things in the tweet:

"4 out of every 5 games they’ve played over the last 12 plus seasons have started under the lights.

In the SEC on ABC era they’ve played 14 of 16 at night, one at 3:30, and one at noon. They played six 3:30 SEC on CBS games through the last decade of the deal while other teams passed that in two seasons.

All but one buy game since 2014 has been a night game (Utah State in 2019 after they’d already played Georgia Southern and Northwestern State).

20 of 25 games since 2014 against Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Florida have been night kickoffs.

The A&M game is their 4th scheduled night game through the first 5 weeks. Mississippi State is slated for a noon kickoff, but with Alabama and Texas on the schedule for November, there’s a very good chance they play 6+ home night games for the 8th time in the last 13 seasons.

It’s outrageous that they get these protections and privileges that no one else in the country, let alone the conference gets."

This week LSU is hosting the SNF game when it certainly can be argued Oklahoma-Georgia is just as valuable a game. Now Lane Kiffin is a huge draw and Oklahoma lost this past week at Michigan so I can certainly understand ABC choosing A&M-LSU.

The tweeter had noticed back in the CBS era that LSU wasn't featured as often which led them to get more night games. But in the ABC era LSU has had 14 of 16 home night games (not all of these games were ABC). They also mentioned the alarming number of night buy games. It's one thing to play Alabama-LSU at night. Last week LSU hosted Louisiana Tech at night. Meanwhile Georgia hosted Western Kentucky at 12:45pm the same day.

Is LSU getting the benefit of the doubt more than others? Maybe this year with the Lane Kiffin story LSU has become the most popular story in the SEC and will get more night games than others. There's no way they were in the Brian Kelly era and outside of the Joe Burrow year most of the 2010's (then again LSU probably benefitted because Alabama got most of the CBS games).

I'm sure Alabama and Mississippi among others probably are the biggest complaints and if I had to look I wouldn't be surprised if more games in these series in Baton Rouge were at night than games in Tuscaloosa and Oxford... I believe when Lane Kiffin was still coaching at Mississippi even he complained LSU was getting more night games! (Of course the shoe's on the other foot and ironically this week's game in Oxford IS a night game!)

For some context, the tweeter claims to be a "UGA alum", certainly an SEC fan but not the biggest anti LSU fan.

Big Ten Week 5 Speculation:

FOX Big Nooner: Ohio State at Iowa (When in doubt, OSU is the Big Nooner)
CBS 3:30pm: Michigan at Minnesota
NBC 7:30pm: Washington at USC

Locked In:
Fri. 8pm FOX: Penn State at Northwestern
Sat. 8pm: Indiana at Rutgers

BTN times: 12:30, 4:15, 8

BTN Speculation:
The only remaining schools are Central Time Zone teams

FS1 4pm: Maryland at Nebraska (Both schools are playing conference games on BTN 9/26, it makes sense for them to put the others on BTN)

BTN: Michigan State at Wisconsin, 12:30pm, Purdue at Illinois, 4:15pm, Indiana at Rutgers, 8pm

(Illinois has a noon ET kickoff 9/26 while MSU and Wisc have 5pm ET kickoffs so switch order).

By records Mississippi-Florida is the better game but the idea of Oklahoma-Georgia on ESPN seems shocking. If ESPN had the ability after yesterday, they probably would have demoted Texas A&M-LSU to ESPN. I originally had Oklahoma-Georgia on SNF and never even had Mississippi-Florida as an option for ABC at all.