Perhaps in anticipation of a future conference war, as the Big Ten and SEC look to create automatic bids into the College Football Playoff, the Big 12 has moved 10 of its matchups to Friday night, in order to take advantage of that barely tapped TV slot.
“The Big 12 has moved six of its conference football games to Friday nights next fall, along with another matchup of league teams that won’t count in the standings,” the Big 12 announced in a release on Friday.
“Those were among the 10 games involving Big 12 teams selected Friday by the league’s television partners, ESPN and Fox, for Friday night broadcasts. There will be two games on three of those nights.”
So, if the Big 12 is trying to claim territory on Friday nights, that means Saturdays are for the taking, and the Big Ten needs to establish strong viewership outside of FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff.”
“Big Noon Kickoff” is great for certain things, but often, it takes away from the true gems of the conference. Michigan and Ohio State is a perfect game for “Big Noon Kickoff.” It’s historically been played in the afternoon, it’s one of the biggest games of the season, and it’s a game guaranteed to be more popular than anything the SEC can throw in that slot.
The problem is that the SEC has a bunch of great games that they use to beat the Big Ten in the afternoon and evening slots.
Thus, a 10-game schedule would allow the Big Ten to have another week over the SEC of conference play, perhaps using that time to gain more fans while scheduling out appropriate matchups for “Big Noon Kickoff” while having marquee matchups available to compete for viewerships in the afternoon.
With Penn State’s white out, Iowa always doing the unpredictable at night, and their West Coast teams, the Big Ten has flexibility.
For UCLA, the Big Ten will have to compete against the Pac-12 once their Mountain West acquisitions make the jump, but that “Pac-12 After Dark” slot has yet to be filled, and the Bruins could be a big piece in doing so.
10 games help UCLA with its non-conference schedule. It gives it a timeslot to compete for viewership. It helps the conference secure auto bids. For the Big Ten, there isn’t much reason not to do it.
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