Broadcast selections for two key Big Ten football matchups are set — Ohio State at Indiana and Oregon at Ohio State, according to a report from The Athletic.
FOX reportedly grabbed the October 17 showdown between Ohio State and Indiana, a matchup that has grown into one of the league’s most intriguing mid‑season draws. The report indicates the game in Bloomington will be the Big Noon Kickoff contest at noon ET with Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt on the call.
CBS countered by selecting the November 7 clash between Oregon and Ohio State in Columbus, which is expected to kickoff at 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT. Big Ten football games on CBS are also streamed live via Paramount+.
The selection of Ohio State-Indiana and Oregon-Ohio State reportedly occurred during the networks’ spring draft. FOX owned the first three picks, selecting Michigan at Ohio State, Ohio State at Indiana, and Oklahoma at Michigan.
With the fourth pick, CBS reportedly chose Oregon at Ohio State. NBC had the fifth pick and has already announced USC at Penn State as a primetime selection on October 10 (7:30pm ET on NBC and Peacock).
Below is more on the TV selection draft from The Athletic article:
Although trades can take place, generally Fox has five of the top 11 picks and the other networks have three selections apiece. Fox also chooses for FS1 while NBC picks for its Peacock streaming service. The networks often draft for a weekend’s pecking order rather than a specific game, which allows them to make their final selection for a given weekend 12 days before kickoff.
Big Ten Network, of which Fox owns 61 percent, is considered its own entity during the draft. Every Big Ten school must appear twice on BTN, including once during conference action.
There are a few restrictions, however. Fox cannot air a West Coast kickoff at noon ET. Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa are exempted from hosting games on Fridays. With all three networks likely to select a game involving the Buckeyes or Wolverines, neither will participate on Friday nights.
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If ND-USC have to meet in the first week of the season, then UM-OSU has to alternate time slots and networks every year. And I still much rather have the former game maintain its traditional scheduling, thus I'd rather change the tradition surrounding UM-OSU than that with ND-USC.
You change one thing about CFB, you must change another.