FOX announced Tuesday that it will be featuring the blockbuster Week 1 College Football Playoff Semifinal rematch of Ohio State vs. Texas in its Big Noon Kickoff time slot. While fans are raving about the mouth-watering matchup, they aren’t thrilled about the kickoff time.
Since the Longhorns—Buckeyes showdown is a clash of top-five teams, fans expected the game to be a primetime showdown. That being said, the 12 p.m. ET kickoff news did not sit well with the fans, to put it mildly.
Football Fans React To Epic Week 1 Showdown’s Noon Kickoff Time
The clash between the Longhorns and the Buckeyes is the first of two matchups in the 2025-26 home-and-home series the two national powers will play. However, it will be the second time that these two giants will go head to head in the last calendar year.
Naturally, there is a lot riding on the game for Texas fans and the Longhorns themselves. To them, there is no better way to kick off the 2025 college football season than to knock off the defending CFP champions on their own soil.
While the fans are excited to tune in to this blockbuster of a game, it seems like the timing of the game has kept the fans on their toes. After FOX took it to their Instagram for the match announcement, their post received a lot of comments from the fans. And it seems like there is a common ‘concern’ among all of them.
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“If this isn’t a night game I stg bro,” one exasperrated fan wrote.
Another fan shared the same concern. “Bro, please don’t make this a noon game, please.”
While the majority of comments on the post stress the game time, there are fans who are simply excited about the fixture.
“Pure entertainment, Week One, can Manning deliver?” one fan asked.
Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff strategy is not something new. Given a $21 billion media empire dictating the flow, the time slot is a financial play. While Fox broadcast some of its marquee college football games at noon ET before 2019, that is when the network formalized this as its marquee time slot, according to Fox College Football’s Wikipedia page.
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