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In a news release by the Big Ten Conference today, the Nebraska Cornhuskers road game against the Illinois Fighting Illini next season will be played on Friday, September 29th, 2017.
The Huskers will be visiting the Illini next season for their second Big Ten Conference game of the season, following their B1G opener in Lincoln vs. Rutgers. The game will be telecast on either ESPN or Fox, per the conference release.
Here is the release in it’s entirety:
Big Ten schools today announced football games to be televised in Friday primetime during the 2017 season. The games, which will be televised by ESPN and FOX, are as follows:
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
As a result of the Conference’s new television agreements, every Big Ten football game over the next six years will be nationally televised by ABC/ESPN, FOX or BTN. Of the approximately 600 games scheduled to be broadcast by our television partners in the next six years, 36 games (six per year) will occur on Friday night. While not all institutions are able to participate in Friday night matchups, all 14 institutions will participate in the broad initiative to provide more primetime exposure on national platforms.
The Big Ten Conference appreciates the significance of high school football within the region and has worked to minimize the impact of this initiative by limiting the number of Friday night games. Overall, these games represent approximately six percent of Big Ten home games annually, and no institution will host more than one game in any given year. Friday night games will also be announced at least 10 months in advance to provide all parties adequate time to prepare.
This will give the Huskers 6 days from the Rutgers game to prepare for the Illini, but also 8 days to prepare for their next opponent on the schedule, a home game with Wisconsin.
For those of you wondering (and I know you are), the Chicago Cubs are at home that weekend, taking on the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The Chicago White Sox, however, will be on the road at Cleveland.