FOX Exec Blames Penn State-Ohio State Fans for ‘Big Noon Kickoff’

It’s the three words that Big Ten football fans hate hearing it the most.

“Big afternoon kick-off.”

FOXs college football The pregame show also serves as a lead-up to the main game of the weekend on the network. This means that these games will not be shown in primetime, but will start at 12:00 (and sometimes 11:00) local time.

The change in times often takes away a lot from the atmosphere and environment of game day. Nowhere is that more true than at Penn State with its famous “White Out” crowd.

In recent years, the Nittany Lions have opted to hold their “White Out” against smaller opponents to keep it overnight. That will be the case again this season when Penn State will host the “White Out” against unranked Washington on Nov. 9.

The first option, of course, would have been to hold the match in this week’s big game against Ohio State. The third-ranked Nittany Lions welcome No. 4 Ohio State to Happy Valley and the winner all but guarantees themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff.

But the game lacks some excitement because of the afternoon kick.

Audrey Snyder from The Athletics spoke with FOX president of insights and analysis Mike Mulvihill, who tried to shift the blame for the hated kicktime onto viewers.

“Our job is to bring the schools we work with to the attention of as many people as possible,” Mulvihill said. “If we can get as much exposure to our schools as possible, it should not only benefit Fox, but those programs as well. What we’ve discovered over the last six years is that it’s very clear that playing our best game at noon gets the biggest audience for those games.”

FOX Executive’s reasoning for ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ has a sampling bias

The thought process is that fewer selection games in the afternoon window mean higher ratings for a selection game in that time slot. But there is a big mistake there. Almost each The big game on FOX for the past six years started at noon. Therefore, those ratings will inherently be higher simply because of the big games.

There is currently no comparison tool.

And while you help your partner schools with high ratings, you hurt them by damaging the game day experience.

Don’t believe us? Just ask Penn State coach James Franklin who subtly and sarcastically throwing some shade at ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ during the week.

“There’s a belief that prime time is somehow inherently better, but that doesn’t really match the analysis,” Mulvhill continued.

That’s spoken like someone who has never attended a major college football game. Sure, games can be great in any window. But there is Nothing like a big college football game under the lights.

Big brands like Penn State, LSU and Florida State are built on their incredible night game environments. Depriving them of that is a huge disservice to the programs and their fans.

Ultimately, it doesn’t sound like FOX is exploring a change anytime soon. But Big Ten programs are increasingly frustrated with the afternoon time slot.