On Saturday at 11:00 am, Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt will get ready to call Wisconsin and Notre Dame from Soldier Field. It will be a part of FOX’s Big Noon Saturday. Wisconsin will get very familiar with the Big Noon Saturday lifestyle. They have three premier games the rest of the way including this one, and they’ll be played at noon. FOX found success with having a premier game at noon. Their ratings are way up, and they’ve carved out the 11a time slot. Similar to how CBS has 2:30p on lockdown and ABC has 6:30p. But does anyone like this time slot except the network executives?

From a fan experience, it absolutely blows if you’re younger and without children. It’s an 11 am start meaning that everything is early. You have to start the tailgate early. Getting drinks early and trying to make sure everyone is bringing the energy that they would at 2:30p or 6:30p. To me, the 2:30p timeslot is the best one of the bunch. It makes the day pretty easy from an arrival time perspective than when it’s over, it is only 6:30 or 7:00p. Still, time to enjoy the night and go out. At the end of the day, it is about the younger fan because it’s likely the school they’re at or just graduated from. Those people matter. Sure, the older fan might actually like it because they’re home by 4:00p but the crowd isn’t the same. You need the energy from the young fans.

Could you imagine a whiteout for a noon start at Penn State? I couldn’t. It would seem odd to do during the day (I know they have before, but looks so much cooler at night) and second, the energy would probably not match what we saw under the lights against Auburn. But due to the relationship that the Big Ten has with FOX plus the Big Ten’s stellar year so far, things aren’t going to change for some time.

This is the new normal for college football, and while it’s annoying, it has become a big deal to play at 11:00 am on FOX.

Charlie.