“Noon kickoff.” This is the dreaded phrase amongst SEC and college football fans alike when it comes to a spotlighted game for that weekend starting at noon eastern standard time.
Why is it dreaded you ask? Well noon means very little time to tailgate for fans. And in college football, that is all part of the experience. You want to be able to get to the campus, park, walk around, eat and socialize.
With a noon kickoff, it not only limits some of the hype surrounding the game as it cannot lead up to that afternoon or evening, but fans experiences are limited as well.
Unfortunately for SEC and Big 10 fans, this will be the case Saturday, September 7th this coming college football season when the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines play host to the Texas Longhorns who appeared in the college football playoff for the first time this past season.
The start time was announced last this past weekend. And for both fan bases, it is actually even worse than the game starting at noon. For those folks in Austin, Texas and Ann Arbor Michigan, this will mean an 11:00 central start time as part of Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.
While it is understandable that Fox wants their biggest game to be center stage for their pre-game broadcast which will more than likely be at the Big House in Ann Arbor, it is frustrating for fans that like the sport who typically like to build up with the bigger games of the weekend being preferred to be at nighttime.
Traditionally, the Big 10 typically broadcasts some of their biggest games at the noon eastern hour. But with Texas being an SEC team starting in 2024, many are not taking too kindly to the networks choice to make it a noon kickoff.