Saturdays Start Stronger Than Ever With FOX College Football
Elite Slate of Games Includes Oregon-Ohio State, Notre Dame-Wisconsin, Nebraska-Oklahoma, Ohio State-Michigan and More
BIG NOON KICKOFF Hits the Road with Stops at Ohio State, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Chicago’s Soldier Field
NEW YORK – This fall, Saturdays start stronger than ever as FOX Sports today announces select games from its 2021 college football schedule, featuring top games from the Big 12, Big Ten, Mountain West and Pac-12 conferences. FOX College Football’s best lineup to date kicks off each Saturday at 10:00 AM ET with two hours of BIG NOON KICKOFF featuring Bob Stoops, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and host Rob Stone. BIG NOON SATURDAY, the network’s premier matchup each weekend, follows at 12:00 PM ET with Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft on the call.
The 2021 FOX Sports college football lineup is headlined by some of the sport’s most-anticipated non-conference matchups and rivalry showdowns. Highlighting the September slate, Oregon heads to Columbus for a Week 2 tilt with Ohio State on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 12:00 PM ET following BIG NOON KICKOFF live from The Horseshoe. Oregon-Ohio State opens a full weekend of key programming on FOX, which also includes MLB’s Yankees at Mets in prime time that evening and a FOX NFL doubleheader the following day.
The newest face on the FOX College Football desk, Stoops returns to Norman with the cast of BIG NOON KICKOFF in Week 3 as the Sooners play host to former Big 12 rival Nebraska on Saturday, Sept. 18. Closing out the first full month of the season, Notre Dame and Wisconsin face off for the first time in more than 50 years, meeting at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Saturday, Sept. 25, with BIG NOON KICKOFF live from the shores of Lake Michigan.
“Everyone at FOX Sports is beyond excited to get back to campus for the 2021 college football season,” said Mark Silverman, FOX Sports President, National Networks. “We’re thrilled to expand BIG NOON KICKOFF’s on-site presence with more stops at more locations this season. Working with our newest sponsor Dos Equis, as well as longtime partners Wendy’s and Allstate, we have a tremendous opportunity to celebrate more student-athletes, coaches and programs in what is sure to be the Year of the Fan.”
The 2021 FOX College Football schedule is book-ended with some of the biggest Big Ten games of the year, kicking off Thursday, Sept. 2, with Ohio State at Minnesota at 8:00 PM ET on FOX, followed two days later by Penn State at Wisconsin on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 12:00 PM ET. The cast of BIG NOON KICKOFF hits the road for on-site shows in both Minneapolis and Madison. The regular season concludes Thanksgiving weekend with the most heated rivalry in all of sports as Michigan hosts Ohio State Saturday, Nov. 27, at 12:00 PM ET on FOX.
FOX Sports’ 2021 regular season coverage wraps up with both the Big Ten and Mountain West Championship games Saturday, Dec. 4, on FOX.
Additional highlights this season include:
• Illinois opens the Bret Bielema era on Saturday, Aug. 28, at 1:00 PM ET on FOX against Nebraska in the first FBS game of the 2021 season.
• Steve Sarkisian makes his Texas debut as the Longhorns face Louisiana, a top-25 squad last season, on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 4:30 PM ET, followed by Ed Orgeron’s return to Los Angeles as LSU faces UCLA at 8:30 PM ET, both on FOX.
• A pair of projected top-25 Big Ten teams clash opening weekend on BTN as Iowa hosts Indiana at 3:30 PM ET on Saturday, Sept. 4.
• Stanford heads south to take on Pac-12 and in-state rival USC on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 10:30 PM ET – the first Pac-12 After Dark contest on the FOX broadcast network – to cap off a full day of sports programming.
• Thanksgiving weekend features three straight days of college football, beginning Thursday, Nov. 25, with Fresno State at San Jose State on FS1. The Big 12, Big Ten, Mountain West and Pac-12 all play Friday, Nov. 26, on FOX, FS1 and BTN, including Iowa at Nebraska in the Heroes Game at 1:30 PM ET on BTN.
This season, FOX Sports enhances its on-site coverage with the FOX College Football Digital Roadshow presented by Dos Equis. Featuring Mark Titus and Charlotte Wilder, hosts of FOX Sports original digital series THE PEOPLE’S SPORTS PODCAST, the Digital Roadshow will capture Titus and Wilder’s college game day experiences and interactions with fans on @CFBonFOX and @FOXSports digital and social platforms.
BIG NOON SATURDAY and BIG NOON KICKOFF launched in 2019, leading FOX Sports to its most-watched regular season with an average audience of 3,727,000 viewers per game – a +12% increase over 2018. The BIG NOON KICKOFF pregame show averaged 1,206,000 viewers in its debut season, a +23% jump over the network’s college football pregame show the prior season.
College football on FOX and FS1 is simulcast on the new FOX Sports app, which provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content through iOS and Android devices.
FOX Sports’ confirmed 2021 fall college football schedule is available here. The remainder of the schedule will be announced as the season progresses.
For more information on FOX Sports’ college football coverage, visit FOX Sports Press Pass and follow @FOXSportsPR and @CFBonFOX on Twitter.
