Two football games involving Big Ten teams in 2023 have been moved to Friday nights, according to separate announcements on Monday.
The Indiana State Sycamores at Indiana Hoosiers football game, previously scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9, has been moved up one day to Friday, Sept. 8. Kickoff time and television coverage for the Indiana State-Indiana contest will be announced later this spring.
This will mark the second consecutive season that the Indiana Hoosiers have hosted a football opponent on a Friday night.
The second contest moved is a Big Ten matchup featuring the Illinois Fighting Illini hosting the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Fighting Illini were previously slated to host the Cornhuskers on Saturday, Oct,. 7, but will now host them at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill., on Friday, Oct. 6. The kickoff time and television network for this contest will also be announced later this spring, according to Illinois’ official release.
Illinois played a Friday night contest last season when they went on the road in Week 1 to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in their Big Ten opener. This will mark the second consecutive season that Nebraska has played multiple Friday contests, which includes their annual Black Friday matchup with Iowa.
The 2023 Big Ten football season kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 31 when the Nebraska Cornhuskers travel to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Illinois/Nebraska could actually become a good rivalry!
I love how the Big Ten takes the lowest profile games and puts them on Friday night. The Pac-12 should have done that years ago, instead we got a top 10 Oregon/Stanford matchup on a Thursday night.