Big Ten schedule change! Rutgers football season opener moved up

Rutgers football will now open the season on a Thursday night.

The Rutgers football season opener has moved date and time so as to be featured by the Big Ten Network as part of a doubleheader.

The season opener for Rutgers against Howard will now take place on Thursday, Aug. 29. Kickoff of the game will take place at 6 P.M. and will air on the Big Ten Network.

It makes Rutgers the first Big Ten team to play this season. The game had originally been scheduled for Aug. 31.

The second Rutgers game against Akron is now a noon kickoff and will also air on the Big Ten Network.

And the first meeting of Rutgers against UCLA, scheduled for SHI Stadium on Oct. 19, will be either a noon or 3:30 p.m. ET or a 4:00 p.m. ET kickoff.

This is significant as it is the annual homecoming game for Rutgers.

The road game against Nebraska does not yet have a kickoff time. But like the UCLA game, this one has three windows with either a noon or 3:30 p.m. ET or a 4:00 p.m. ET kickoff.