As part of the SEC’s new deal with ABC/ESPN, this year’s Oklahoma-Texas Red River Rivalry on Oct. 12 will shift from its customary 12 p.m. ET time slot to 3:30 p.m., and the Mississippi State-Ole Miss Egg Bowl is moving from Thanksgiving to Black Friday.
Those two were among a host of 2024 college football kickoff times announced Thursday by the networks, primarily involving the first three weeks of the season. Most network selections after Week 3 do not get decided until 12 or 6 days before kickoff.
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Fox selected Penn State–West Virginia as its first Big Noon game on Aug. 31, airing opposite ABC’s previously announced noon kickoff for Georgia versus Clemson in Atlanta. Other notable Week 1 games include Miami at Florida (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC), Notre Dame at Texas A&M (7:30 p.m. ET on ABC) and Sunday’s LSU–USC matchup in Las Vegas (7:30 p.m. ET on ABC).
Fox’s Texas at Michigan Big Noon game highlights Week 2, with Arkansas–Oklahoma State airing at Noon on ABC, and Colorado–Nebraska (NBC) and Tennessee–NC State (ABC) getting primetime slots.
Alabama at Wisconsin gets the Big Noon treatment in Week 3, airing opposite LSU-South Carolina on ABC. NBC opted to air the Washington State-Washington Apple Cup on its streaming service Peacock (3:30 p.m.). The Oregon–Oregon State rivalry game is at 3:30 p.m. on Fox, followed by Georgia-Kentucky in the ABC primetime game.
This season marks the first in which the SEC’s primary network package moves from CBS to ABC, which will air a weekly 3:30 p.m. ET SEC game. ABC can also air SEC games at 12 p.m. and 7:30. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said this week the league will be able to announce early-season windows for the entire season in mid-June, with network selections to come later.
The Big Ten’s contracts with Fox, CBS and NBC began last season, but this will be the first in which CBS airs a full Big Ten lineup at 3:30 ET. CBS opens with Akron–Ohio State in Week 1, followed by Iowa State–Iowa in Week 2. A Week 3 doubleheader features the Notre Dame-Purdue game in the afternoon followed by Colorado-Colorado State in primetime.
Besides the Egg Bowl (3:30 p.m. on ABC on Nov. 29), other announced Black Friday games include Minnesota–Wisconsin (12 p.m., CBS), Iowa-Nebraska (7:30 p.m., NBC) and Georgia Tech-Georgia (7:30 p.m., ABC).
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