One of the biggest games of the year on Penn State’s 2024 schedule will not be getting the primetime treatment. It won’t even be placed in the mid-afternoon timeslot. Instead, it will be designated for Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff game.
The Big Ten unveiled the start times and TV assignments for the Week 10 conference schedule, which will be highlighted by Penn State’s home game against Ohio State. Fox will air the game at 12 p.m. ET as the headliner on Fox’s schedule on Nov. 2.
It has not been announced at this time, but it is likely Fox will bring its pregame show to Happy Valley as well. The game could also attract ESPN’s College GameDay as it could be the highest-profile game on the schedule that weekend. Georgia and Florida in Jacksonville is always an option, but this could be the best opportunity for GameDay to make the trip back to State College this season.
The Ohio State game will be the fourth game to start at noon for the Nittany Lions this season, and it will be the third Big Noon Kickoff game airing on Fox. Penn State opened the season in Fox’s early afternoon timeslot at West Virginia in Week 1 and hosted UCLA for the featured early afternoon contest in Week 6. Penn State also hosted Bowling Green for a noon kickoff in Week 2, but that game aired on Big Ten Network.
Penn State will be coming off a primetime game on NBC this week at Wisconsin. It was widely expected Fox would be making a serious play for the Penn State-Ohio State matchup for the Big Noon Kickoff since the season started. The Penn State-Ohio State game has tended to be one of the more attractive games on the Big Ten TV schedule, and this year’s meeting could potentially be a top-five matchup. Penn State is 6-0 and is hoping to come home from Wisconsin this week with a clean 7-0 record and a top-three ranking. Ohio State has lost just one game this season, two weeks ago in a close game at Oregon, who is now the no. 1 team in the national rankings. Ohio State is no. 4 in both major polls this week, one spot behind the Nittany Lions.
If the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes each manage to win their respective games this week (Ohio State hosts Nebraska), then next week’s game would be the first meeting in the series with both teams ranked in the top five since 1996. To date, that is the only time the two schools have faced each other when ranked in the top five.
But first things first. Penn State has to find a way to beat a Wisconsin team that has pummeled each of their past three opponents and held their opponents to seven points or fewer in each of the last three games.
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