There are plenty of things for college football fans to complain about — especially in this new age of NIL, tampering, and big television revenue — but there's one that will never change: Fans want to see their team play games at night.
FOX’s Big Noon Saturday started as a creative pivot in college football broadcasting, giving fans major matchups at noon ET instead of competing with traditional primetime games, particularly with ESPN.
While this unique time slot has been a financial win for FOX, allowing it to avoid the crowded evening broadcast schedule and secure high ratings, it’s not a hit with everyone. In fact, Awful Announcing just released a report about how Big Noon Saturday is driving a wedge between fans and the network, with the disconnect only deepening as Fox continues to push forward with this schedule.
One of the biggest issues that the report highlights is how the early kickoffs impact on game-day tradition. For college football fans, the noon start disrupts the excitement of all-day tailgating, which is a major part of the experience. Instead of gearing up for an evening showdown, fans are finding the energy dampened by the early start time, which cuts into the electrifying atmosphere typical of primetime games.
Ohio State and Penn State fans have been particularly vocal about their frustration, which has intensified this season. Penn State, known for its iconic White Out games, saw that experience diminished when Fox scheduled its primetime-worthy clash with Ohio State in the noon slot, with an unranked Washington game taking the night spot instead.
Ohio State, meanwhile, has been subjected to a string of consecutive noon kickoffs, fueling a near-revolt against the repetitiveness of Big Noon Saturday.
The Penn State College GameDay crowd breaks into a "F--- Big Noon" chant as the crew jokes about night games.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 2, 2024
"I think they would prefer a little bit of a later start." pic.twitter.com/8A1zQ4mVzG
It wasn't just fans in Happy Valley expressing their frustration with Big Noon, either.
finding common ground pic.twitter.com/A0PFYQjxwu
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) November 12, 2024
I know we as Penn State fans hate Big Noon because of the White Out but man Ohio State has been Big Noon’d a billion times this year. Seems like every week
— Mark (@TheYinzerLion) November 11, 2024
There’s a reason these shirts are all over Penn State Big Noon is a failed product that is hurting college football. College Gameday was trolling you from the second the walked on campus last week pic.twitter.com/doelVwITZM
— Cameron Panase (@Panase31) November 11, 2024
Everyone hates Big Noon Kickoff… Everyone! pic.twitter.com/zdKdWIwN11
— The Buckeye Show 🌰 (@TheBuckGuys) November 12, 2024
I introduce to you the murderers of big ten football atmospheres, Big Noon Kickoff. pic.twitter.com/mo70nd6Ank
— Hayden Haman (@haman_hayden) November 12, 2024
Big noon is one of the worst things to happen to cfb https://t.co/MweqOvFhCk
— Kenny OneThree (@kennyv_13) November 12, 2024
Despite the mounting frustration, FOX shows no signs of adjusting this approach. The current deal stretches through 2029, meaning fans may be stuck with Big Noon Saturday’s schedule for quite a while.
What's most interesting is that, with the Big Ten's westward expansion, it makes things nearly impossible for fans of the conference outwest to get up for the biggest games of the week in their own conference.
For example, Big Noon kicks off at 9 a.m. pacific time, so USC, Washington, Oregon, and UCLA are all essentially not going to host Big Noon, or they would have to prepare for an extremely early kickoff time.
This week, FOX Big Noon will be live from Boulder, Colorado for a matchup between Utah and Colorado. The game will kickoff at 12 p.m. E.T., meaning the game will kickoff at 10 a.m. local time.