Saturday’s Penn State-Illinois game has been scheduled for Fox’s Big Noon kickoff for months, and despite some late confusion, it’s still scheduled for that time.
Mid-afternoon this past Saturday, it was reported that coach Deion Sanders and Colorado would have that timeslot for its Week 3 matchup with Colorado State.
Penn State’s weekly game notes provided clarity to the situation.
The notes confirmed that Penn State-Illinois will indeed be Fox’s Big Noon game.
Now, the reports of Fox coming to Boulder weren’t inaccurate. What’s happening is that Fox’s pregame show, which featured Heisman winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinert, polarizing former coach Urban Meyer and, this week, special guest Rob Gronkowski, will be on-site in Colorado.
But the Big Noon game broadcast, headlined by play-by-play man Gus Johnson and color guy Joel Klatt, will be at Illinois.
Big Noon hasn’t been kind to Penn State recently. Penn State played on Big Noon twice last season and lost both games, at Michigan and at home to Ohio State. But those were the only two games Penn State lost in 2022, which is part of why PSU’s an attractive option for Big Noon in 2023.
Johnson and Klatt are scheduled to return to Happy Valley Nov. 11 for the Michigan game. It’s unknown what network Penn State’s Oct. 21 game at Ohio State will be on.
Illinois is probably the biggest test Penn State will face in 2023 up to this point. Penn State’s first opponent, West Virginia, went 5-7 last season, and its second one, Delaware, is an FCS school. Illinois is coming off an 8-5 campaign.
This is also slated to be the first road game QB Drew Allar starts.
