Nebraska Football: Huskers To Face Wisconsin, Ohio State In Prime Time

ESPN has selected the Huskers games at Wisconsin and at Ohio State for prime time telecasts on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

From the Nebraska athletic department:

The Huskers' matchups at Wisconsin on Oct. 29 and at Ohio State on Nov. 5 will both be televised by either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. The NU-Wisconsin game will kick off at 6, 7 or 8 p.m. CT, while the Huskers' game with the Buckeyes is set for a 7 p.m. CT kick. The network designations for the games will be made closer to game day.

All five regular season Nebraska-Wisconsin games since 2011 have been televised by the ESPN family of networks, including three in prime time. Both meetings between Nebraska and Ohio State (2011, 2012) were played in prime time on an ESPN network.

The two Nebraska games were part of seven Big Ten evening broadcasts announced by ESPN on Monday. Last week, BTN announced that the season opener against Fresno State would be televised on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. central time.

But what about the other games? Here's an initial look at the schedule and what's likely to happen:

September 10: Wyoming

Seems destined for an 11 am or 2:30 pm kickoff, as BTN has already scheduled Iowa vs. Iowa State for primetime. ESPN and ABC will probably be choosing between North Carolina at Illinois, Cincinnati at Purdue and Central Florida (with Scott Frost) at Michigan for their timeslots.

September 17: Oregon

ABC and ESPN will certainly be picking this, as the only other Big Ten home game of consequence that day is Colorado at Michigan. But Michigan State visiting Notre Dame (on NBC) and Ohio State playing at Oklahoma (assured to be the ABC primetime game), it's unclear what time it'll be played. My guess is that there is a 40% chance of ABC at 2:30, a 30% chance of ESPN2 in primetime, and a 30% chance of an ESPN 11 am timeslot. No television times have been picked yet, though we should be hearing about this pretty soon.

September 24: at Northwestern

The top two Big Ten games of the day are Wisconsin at Michigan State and Penn State at Michigan. One will go to ABC at 2:30 and the other will go to ESPN at 11 am. The biggest games for that day are Iowa/Rutgers, Indiana/Wake Forest and the Huskers/Wildcats. My guess is Indiana/Wake gets an ESPN2 timeslot, and BTN takes Nebraska/Northwestern, which could still wind up in prime time, as BTN looks to have three or four games to show that day. Also keep an eye on ESPNU.

October 1: Illinois

ABC will pick Wisconsin at Michigan for the 2:30 time slot. Northwestern at Iowa and Minnesota at Penn State would seem to be headed for an ESPN network. That would appear to leave BTN with three or four games to show that day, so again, a prime time game is possible here.

October 15: at Indiana

Ohio State at Wisconsin will be an ESPN/ABC prime time game, so the other five Big Ten games will be fighting for morning and afternoon time slots. A rather weak slate on the day: Illinois/Rutgers, Iowa/Purdue, Minnesota/Maryland and Northwestern/Michigan State. I suspect Northwestern/Michigan State will get an 11 am ESPN or 2:30 ABC slot; after that, who knows.

October 22: Purdue

Ohio State at Penn State will be an ESPN/ABC prime time game, so this will be a morning or afternoon kick. Wisconsin at Iowa would seem to be heading towards a 2:30 ABC slot, so an 11 am kickoff would seem to be the most likely option here.

November 12: Minnesota

Will ABC pick the Huskers/Gophers or Michigan at Iowa for a 2:30 kick? That would seem to lead the Huskers into an 11 am ESPN kickoff. Other games are Illinois at Wisconsin, Northwestern at Purdue, Ohio State at Maryland, Penn State at Indiana and Rutgers at Michigan State.

November 19: Maryland

Ohio State at Michigan State will get the 2:30 ABC slot. Other games on the day include Iowa at Illinois, Northwestern at Minnesota, Wisconsin at Purdue, Indiana at Michigan, and Penn State at Rutgers. Most of those games will end up at 11 am, I suspect, though I think BTN will get a game at 2:30 pm.

November 25: Iowa

There's only one Black Friday game in the Big Ten, so it's not a question of conflicts with other Big Ten games, but rather who gets which time slot nationally. Other games on the day include Texas/TCU, North Carolina State/North Carolina, Cincinnati/Tulsa, Baylor/Texas Tech, Arizona/Arizona State and Washington/Washington State.