The Big Ten and its television partners have followed the annual May ritual of releasing start times and television assignments for the first three weeks of the 2025 college football season.
Much to the chagrin of Ohio State fans, the season-opening showdown against Texas will be a noon start on FOX. The network had announced it had selected that game during its upfront presentation for advertisers earlier this month. The Buckeyes and Longhorns will open the season on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Ohio Stadium.
The furor surrounding noon starts reached the point where an Ohio legislator introduced a bill to outlaw noon games when Ohio State is hosting a top-10 opponent.
The Ohio State-Texas game represents a match-up of the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in CBSSports.com’s most recent preseason top 25 rankings. It is also the first of a home-and-home contract with Ohio State, visiting Texas in 2026. And it is also a rematch of the Cotton Bowl national semifinal game this past January, where the Buckeyes took a 28-14 win over the Longhorns.
Last week, 247Sports reported that Ohio State and FOX inquired with Texas about possibly moving the date of the game to Sun., Aug. 31, for a primetime telecast. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte confirmed at the SEC meetings on Wednesday that overtures were made but he rejected them, noting Texas was scheduled to host San Jose State the following Saturday and a Sunday game would lead to a short turnaround.
Since taking over as the lead broadcaster of Big Ten games in 2017, FOX has opted to put many of its top selections in the noon Eastern time slot. Last year, Ohio State played seven of its 12 regular-season games at noon, including each of the last six games of the season. Six of those noon games were on FOX, with the seventh on the Big Ten Network.
Ohio State fans were clamoring for a prime-time game against Texas, especially after the atmosphere at OSU’s College Football Playoff opener against Tennessee. That game, with an 8 p.m. start time on ABC and ESPN, was one of the most raucous environments at the Horseshoe in recent memory as the Buckeyes started the push for a national championship with a rousing 42-17 win.
OSU’s one previous home game against Texas in 2005 was also a prime time game, although ABC controlled the Big Ten TV contract at that point. Certainly, the return game at Texas next year will be a primetime game on ABC.
As expected, FOX has also selected the Ohio State-Michigan game as a noon start. That game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 29, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. This marks the ninth year in a row FOX will televise the Michigan game at noon and the 19th year in a row overall it will be at noon.
The start times for two other Ohio State nonconference games have been announced.
The Buckeyes will host FCS opponent Grambling for the first time ever on Saturday, Sept. 6. That game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.
OSU’s Week 3 game against defending MAC champion Ohio U. on Saturday, Sept. 13, will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be webcast by the Peacock streaming service. Subscriptions for Peacock begin as low as $7.99 per month.
Ohio State will host Minnesota for its Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 4. Ordinarily, schools are given a start time for their Homecoming game months in advance. But it remains listed as a TBA for the time and TV assignment.
As part of today’s announcement, the Big Ten set up a collection of Friday night games. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin were not selected for any Friday games. Wisconsin was selected for a Thursday game in Week 1, however. Click here for the full Big Ten announcement.
The remaining eight Big Ten games on OSU’s football schedule will likely be determined on a six- or 12-day basis as the season unfolds. CBS typically televises its Big Ten games at 3:30 p.m. and NBC’s package usually has games in the 7:30 p.m. slot.
Below is the full schedule for the 2025 Ohio State football season.
Sat., Aug. 30, Texas, 12 p.m. ET (FOX)
Sat., Sept. 6, Grambling, 3:30 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network)
Sat., Sept. 13, Ohio, 7 p.m. ET (Peacock streaming)
Sat., Sept. 27, at Washington, time and TV TBA
Sat., Oct. 4, Minnesota (Homecoming), time and TV TBA
Sat., Oct 11, at Illinois, time and TV TBA
Sat., Oct. 18, at Wisconsin, time and TV TBA
Sat., Nov. 1, Penn State, time and TV TBA
Sat., Nov. 8, at Purdue, time and TV TBA
Sat., Nov. 15, UCLA, time and TV TBA
Sat., Nov. 22, Rutgers, time and TV TBA
Sat., Nov. 29, at Michigan, 12 p.m. ET (FOX)
Sat., Dec. 6, Big Ten Championship Game at Indianapolis, 8 p.m. (FOX)
College Football Playoff Schedule
Seeds 5 through 8 will host seeds 9 through 12 at campus sites Dec. 19-20. Two of these games will be on ESPN and two others on TNT.
The quarterfinal rounds will be played at bowl sites with the Cotton Bowl hosting a game on Wednesday, Dec. 31 (7:30 p.m.), followed by three games on Thurs., Jan. 1, with the Orange Bowl at noon, the Rose Bowl at 4 p.m. and the Sugar Bowl at 8 p.m. The Big Ten champion would be slotted into the Rose Bowl.
The semifinals will be played on Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Fiesta Bowl (7:30 p.m.) and on Friday, Jan. 9, at the Peach Bowl (7:30 p.m.).
The national championship game will be played on Monday, Jan. 19, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. (7:30 p.m.).
All games from the quarterfinal round on will be televised by ESPN.
