The 2023 football schedule is coming together with start times continuing to be locked in for the upcoming Penn State football season. The season already has three games locked in for a primetime kickoff, with two of them coming at home and one coming on Black Friday on the road to close out the season. But the start times for two of the biggest and most challenging games on the schedule have yet to be officially announced. One of those games, however, appears to be heading to a Big Noon Kickoff on FOX.
According to Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, via Twitter, Penn State’s Nov. 11 game at home against Michigan will be a noon kickoff on FOX. That start time has yet to be officially announced by FOX, Penn State, Michigan, or the Big Ten, but the start time does seem like a likely possibility given the matchup and the potential stakes that go with it.
Michigan at Penn State on Nov. 11 will be Fox’s Big Noon kickoff, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 25, 2023
There is a good possibility this matchup could help determine the fate of the Big Ten East Division race as both teams could potentially enter this matchup without a loss. Penn State will have the trickier path to being undefeated at this point in the season, of course, as they must travel to Ohio State before this point and games against Iowa and Illinois could prove to be challenging as well. But even if Penn State has just one loss, the Big Ten East could be on the line in Beaver Stadium that afternoon.
Michigan is the two-time defending Big Ten champion and is coming off a second straight appearance in the College Football Playoff. Early rankings have shown Michigan will be a national title contender again this season as well. Michigan has won the last two meetings in the series, including an early afternoon kickoff in Beaver Stadium in 2021. Michigan dominated last season’s meeting in Ann Arbor.
Penn State is already locked in for three primetime games this season. The season opener against West Virginia will be NBC’s first primetime Big Ten game on its programming lineup under the new media rights deal with the Big Ten. Penn State’s Week 4 home game against Iowa has been given the whiteout treatment and will air on CBS in primetime. Penn State’s regular-season finale at Michigan State has been moved up to the Friday after Thanksgiving and relocated to Ford Field, home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions, for another primetime appearance on NBC.
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