Big Ten reveals early football TV schedule: Ohio State-Texas, Michigan-Oklahoma among marquee games

Zain Bando

Big Ten reveals early football TV schedule: Ohio State-Texas, Michigan-Oklahoma among marquee games image

It's that time of year again. The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday select kickoff times and a week-by-week breakdown of the matchups featuring the league's teams all the way through the Big Ten championship game in December.

Although the Big Ten schedule had been known since last December, it is now finally coming together from a TV perspective, which makes it easier to plan how an ideal college football Saturday may look.

"The 2025 campaign will mark the second featuring a full schedule of Big Ten football on three over-the-air broadcast networks (CBS, FOX, NBC) in addition to comprehensive cable coverage across Big Ten Network and FS1, and direct-to-consumer delivery via Peacock, the FOX Sports app, and Paramount+," a portion of the league's release stated.

Here is a breakdown of the known kickoff times in Week 1-Week 3, as not every game has gone through the 12-to-6-day selection process that takes place once the season officially starts.

Week 1: Aug. 28-Aug. 30

Thursday, Aug. 28

  • Ohio at Rutgers | Big Ten Network | 6 p.m. ET
  • Buffalo at Minnesota | FS1 | 8 p.m. ET
  • Nebraska vs. Cincinnati | ESPN | 9 p.m. ET* (neutral site game)
  • Miami (OH) at Wisconsin | Big Ten Network | 9 p.m. ET

Friday, Aug. 29

  • Western Michigan at Michigan State | FS1 | 7 p.m. ET
  • Western Illinois at Illinois | Peacock | 7:30 p.m. ET

Saturday, Aug. 30

  • Texas at Ohio State | FOX | Noon ET (Big Noon Kickoff)
  • Ball State at Purdue | Big Ten Network | Noon ET
  • FAU at Maryland | Big Ten Network | Noon ET
  • Northwestern at Tulane | ESPNU | Noon ET
  • Old Dominion at Indiana | FS1 | 2:30 p.m. ET
  • Nevada at Penn State | CBS | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Montana State at Oregon | Big Ten Network | 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
  • Albany at Iowa | FS1 | 6 p.m. ET
  • New Mexico at Michigan | NBC | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Missouri State at USC | Big Ten Network | 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT
  • Colorado State at Washington  | BTN | 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT
  • Utah at UCLA | FOX | 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT

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Week 2: Sept. 5-6

Friday, Sept. 5:

  • NIU at Maryland | Big Ten Network | 7:30 p.m. ET*
  • Western Illinois at Northwestern | Big Ten Network | 7:30 p.m. ET*

*=Big Ten Network doubleheader

Saturday, Sept. 6:

  • Kennesaw State at Indiana | FS1 | Noon ET
  • FIU at Penn State | BTN | Noon ET
  • Northwestern State at Minnesota | BTN | Noon ET
  • Iowa at Iowa State | FOX | Noon ET (Big Noon Kickoff)
  • Illinois at Duke | ABC or ESPN | Noon ET
  • Oklahoma State at Oregon | CBS | 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT
  • Grambling State at Ohio State | BTN | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Miami (OH) at Rutgers | Peacock | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • MTSU at Wisconsin | FS1 | 4 p.m. ET
  • SIU at Purdue | BTN | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Boston College at Michigan State | NBC | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Akron at Nebraska | BTN | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Michigan at Oklahoma | ABC | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Georgia Southern at USC | FS1 | 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT
  • UCLA at UNLV | CBS Sports Network | 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
  • UC Davis at Washington | BTN | 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT

Week 3: Sept. 12-13 

Friday, Sept. 12:

  • Indiana State at Indiana | BTN | 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. ET

*The UCLA-New Mexico matchup is still to be determined regarding TV/kick times.

Saturday, Sept. 13:

  • Oregon at Northwestern | FOX | Noon ET (Big Noon Kickoff)
  • Wisconsin at Alabama | ABC or ESPN | Noon ET
  • Houston Christian at Nebraska | FS1 | Noon ET
  • CMU at Michigan | BTN | Noon ET
  • Towson at Maryland | Peacock | Noon ET
  • Villanova at Penn State | FS1 | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Norfolk State at Rutgers | BTN | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Youngstown State at Michigan State | BTN | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • USC at Purdue | CBS | 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Ohio at Ohio State | Peacock | 7 p.m. ET
  • Western Michigan at Illinois | FS1 | 7 p.m. ET
  • UMass at Iowa | BTN | 7:30 p.m. ET
  • Minnesota at Cal-Berkley | ESPN | 10:30 p.m. ET

More details are forthcoming, but it's clear the conference has stacked a heavy deck to begin the season with compelling matchups, despite criticism of FOX carrying Ohio State-Texas at noon ET as opposed to a nighttime slot.

For now, the countdown to kickoff continues onward.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).