Ohio State is set to host Texas in a major Week 1 showdown on Saturday, Aug. 30.
The Week 1 game is scheduled to take place on Saturday, airing on FOX. Most assume that it’ll be a noon E.T. game. FOX typically puts its biggest game of the week in the noon E.T slot to go along with its “Big Noon Kickoff” promotion.
However, according to a report from 247Sports, Ohio State tried to get the game moved. The Buckeyes were interested in playing in a standalone, primetime slot on Sunday, Aug. 31. However, Texas reportedly rejected the idea of the move.
Texas reportedly turned down the offer, according to Chip Brown:
So, when a game time wasn’t part of FOX’s announcement on May 12, speculation began that perhaps Ohio State was trying to move the game to a later time slot.
The answer is, yes, Ohio State officials were trying to move the game – to the late afternoon or evening of Sunday, Aug. 31 on Labor Day weekend, multiple sources close to the situation told Horns247 late Wednesday night.
Those sources said Ohio State’s attempt to move the game has failed because Texas wouldn’t agree to moving the game off of its contracted Aug. 30 date.
“Texas said no,” a source close to the situation told Horns247.
So, look for confirmation soon that Texas and Ohio State will, indeed, kick off at 11 am CT (12 pm ET) on Aug. 30 as part of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff.
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While it’s understandable that Texas would prefer the game to be played on Saturday afternoon rather than Sunday night – Ohio Stadium will be far less noisy during the day than at night – it’s a move that isn’t sitting well with many fans.
“Texas is scared to play that game at night,” one fan wrote.
“Absolute cowards. And on what planet does the road team get a say on the kickoff time?” one fan added.
“I wouldn’t want to play here at night either,” one fan added.
“Who cares what Texas wants… move it to a night game and if they really don’t want to play, they can stay home,” another fan added.
Few atmospheres in college football are as intimidating as Ohio Stadium at night.
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Unfortunately, it sounds like this game will be played during the day.
