A week after the Big Ten announced (and were roundly booed for) its decision to hold six of its games per season on Friday nights, it is now known which six games will be part of “Friday Night Lights” for the B1G.
One of those games happens to be the Wisconsin Badgers season opener against Utah State on Sept. 1.
It shouldn’t be surprising, as athletic director Barry Alvarez made it clear that UW would only participate if the game was on Labor Day weekend. That is indeed the case with its opener next season, so Badgers fans from afar can still make their normal trips back to the motherland for a long weekend in the Badger state.
Wisconsin won’t be the only game played that night by a Big Ten team though, as there will also be Rutgers hosting Washington in their return matchup from this season.
Here is the full list of games to be played on Friday nights in the Big Ten:
- Fri., Sept. 1 Washington at Rutgers
- Fri., Sept. 1 Utah State at Wisconsin
- Fri., Sept. 8 Ohio at Purdue
- Fri., Sept. 29 Nebraska at Illinois
- Fri., Oct. 13 Northwestern at Maryland
- Fri., Oct. 27 Michigan State at Northwestern
Interestingly enough, Northwestern will be the team featured more than any other in the Big Ten during Friday night games — once on the road and once at home in a bigger contest against Michigan State.
As for the Badgers, getting this game on Friday night will be huge as the Big Ten will have more viewership available on Friday night than the rest of the weekend.
What still isn’t known is what network will get these rights…either ESPN or FOX or a combination of the two. One has to hope that this is done as a TV destination situation and the TV partner is one of the two and not a split.
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