Fox announces Friday night college football schedule
The 2024 college football season will bring in a new era for the sport with the next wave of conference realignment changes and an expanded College Football Playoff field. And now Fox is ready to take over the Friday night programming with a full slate of weekly Friday night games featuring Big Ten and Big 12 matchups. Penn State will not be featured in any of the Friday night games announced by the network on Wednesday.
Fox saw positive results in recent years by highlighting the noon slate of games on Saturday afternoons and hopes to seize control of the Friday night ratings beginning this season. Fox will begin its weekly Friday night games beginning on Friday, Sept. 13 with a Big 12 matchup between Arizona and Kansas State. The Big Ten will take the Friday night spotlight the following week with Illinois visiting Nebraska.
In all, Fox will air nine Big Ten matchups over the span of nine consecutive weeks from Sept. 20 (Illinois at Nebraska) through Nov. 22 (Purdue at Michigan State). No Fox Friday night game will include Penn State as a home or road team.
When the Big Ten began scheduling Friday night games as part of the previous media rights deal with Fox, Penn State made it clear it would not be open to hosting a Friday night game in large part to the logistical nightmare it would present. Penn State has played as a road team on a weeknight in Big Ten play in recent years, including a season opener at Purdue two seasons ago on a Thursday night.
Here is the full Fox Friday night college football schedule (all times are 8:00 p.m. ET unless noted otherwise):
Sept. 13 – Arizona at Kansas State
Sept. 20 – Illinois at Nebraska
Sept. 27 – Washington at Rutgers
Oct. 4 – Michigan State at Oregon (9:00 p.m.)
Oct. 11 – Northwestern at Maryland
Oct. 18 – Oregon at Purdue
Oct. 25 – Rutgers at USC (11:00 p.m.)
Nov. 15 – UCLA at Washington (9:00 p.m.)
Nov. 22 – Purdue at Michigan State
Nov. 29 – Utah at UCF
Dec. 6 – Mountain West Conference Championship Game
Fox previously confirmed three Big Noon Kickoff games for the Saturday schedule, but additional games for the early portion of the season will be announced at a later time. Fox will feature Michigan’s home game vs. Texas on Sept. 7, Wisconsin’s home game vs. Alabama on Sept. 14, and Ohio State’s home game vs. Michigan on Nov. 30 for the Big Noon Kickoff game of the week on the network.
Here is Penn State’s 2024 football schedule. And here are some early game-by-game predictions for the upcoming season.
Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
