B1G Football In 2023 - Schedules, Broadcast Rights and More

March 21, 2023 by Staff

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference Administrators Council unanimously approved the conference’s 2023 football schedule. The 2023 football season kicks off the conference’s new media rights agreements with CBS, FOX/FS1, Big Ten Network, NBC and NBC Universal's Peacock.

It should come to no one's surprise that FanDuel Sportsbook lists Ohio State (+700) and Michigan (+1000) among the top four betting favorites to win the national title this coming season.

Stay up to date with The Duel for college football developments that might also affect the changes in those numbers.

Football will dominate Saturdays, beginning in the fall of 2023 on the largest broadcast platforms from morning to night, with FOX at Noon ET, CBS at 3:30 p.m. ET and NBC in Prime Time. With the addition of UCLA and USC in August 2024, the conference will reach the broadest audience in the country, coast-to-coast, including the top three media markets in the country in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The media rights agreements will begin July 1, 2023, and run through the 2029-30 season.

BTN will maintain its strong position as the home for Big Ten fans, as the network will continue to televise a full slate of football, basketball and Olympic sport competition throughout the entire year.

CBS’s initial season in 2023 will include seven football games and both regular season and postseason men’s basketball action, along with the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament final appearing on CBS for the first time. The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals and final will continue the tradition of airing on CBS, which they have done for 25 years. Every CBS Big Ten football and basketball broadcast will also be streamed on Paramount+, Paramount Global’s direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Starting in 2024, CBS will televise up to 15 regular-season football games per season, including an annual Black Friday game in the afternoon. CBS is America's most-watched network for the past 14 years and the highest-rated college football network.

FOX has renewed its agreement to televise football and men’s basketball games each season, with the opportunity to carry additional sports throughout the year. The Big Ten Conference’s partnership with FOX reached its high point during the 2021-22 year, as FOX captured the #1 time slot in college football for the first time with its Big Noon Saturday platform that featured 10-14 games involving a Big Ten team, and a men’s basketball season that ended with the top three most watched games in the history of FS1 all featuring Big Ten programs.

NBC will produce 14-to-16 games on broadcast television each season as it introduces college football fans to Big Ten Saturday Night. Each Big Ten game on NBC broadcast will also be simul-streamed on Peacock, NBC Universal's direct-to-consumer streaming service. NBC Sports has established the most dominant prime time franchise in television history, as its Sunday Night Football has been prime time’s No. 1 show for an unprecedented 11 consecutive years – a streak that is currently active.>/

Peacock, NBC Universal's direct-to-consumer streaming service will deliver exclusive Big Ten football and basketball games each season, as eight regular-season football games will appear on the platform along with as many as 47 regular-season men’s basketball games (32 conference and 15 non-conference) and 30 regular-season women’s basketball games (20 conference and 10 non-conference).>/

CBS, FOX and NBC will combine efforts to televise the seven Big Ten Football Championship Games during the term.

CBS: 2024, 2028

FOX: 2023, 2025, 2027, 2029

NBC: 2026

Selected Saturday games in the 2023 season may be adjusted to select Fridays and other special dates, including Labor Day Sunday and Black Friday. The 2024 football schedule will be announced in the future.

Coaching Changes

Nebraska: On Saturday, November 26, the 'Huskers named former Carolina Panthers, Baylor Bears, and Temple Owls head coach Matt Rhule as the official replacement of Scott Frost who was dismissed on September 11, the day after a 45-42 loss at home to Georgia Southern dropped Nebraska to 1-2.  It was the 8th straight loss to FBS teams, all by single digits. He left the school with records of 16-31 over-all and 10-26 in conference games. Frost was hired after leading UCF to marks of 19-7 over-all and 12-4 in American Conference play over the course of the 2016 and 2017 seasons. His career record now stands at 35-38. Mickey Joseph was named interim head coach and went 3-6 for the rest of the season.

Rhule took over a Baylor program that went 1-11 in 2017 and led the Bears to a 6-win improvement in 2018. For an encore, his 2019 squad went 11-3 with just one regular season loss to Oklahoma, another loss to the Sooners in the Big 12 Championship game and a Sugar Bowl bowl loss to Georgia. Unfortunately for Baylor fans, that performance caught the attention of NFL teams and Rhule was hired on January 7 as the new head coach at Carolina. At Baylor, Rhule repeated the turnaround success he had at Temple where his first two team was 1-11, but his next three seasons saw the Owls go a cumulative 26-13.

Purdue: Purdue on Tuesday, December 13, named Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters as its new head coach. It will be the first head coaching gig for Walters who was a Broyles Award finalist in 2022 after guiding the Illini defense to Top 10 national rankings in 17 different defensive categories. At age 36, he becomes the 4th youngest head coach in the FBS.

Walters replaces Jeff Brohm who was named the head coach at Louisville on December 8th, bringing one the school's biggest stars in history back home. Brian Brohm, Jeff's younger brother by more than 14 years, was named as Purdue's interim head coach for what became a 63-7 loss to LSU in the Citrus Bowl. The Louisville spot opened up when Scott Satterfield left for Cincinnati after Luke Fickell left the Bearcats to go to Wisconsin. Brohm, the older one, was a start QB with the Cardinals and is in the stadium's Ring of Honor after a collegiate career (1989-1993) in which he threw for 5,451 yards with 38 TD's and 28 INT's under head coach Howard Schnellenberger. These days, those were numbers would seem almost average, but it was a different era in college football. Brohm bounced around pro football for 8 years before becoming the head coach of Louisville's Arena League team, the Fire, in 2002. He was hired by Bobby Petrino as the Cardinal's QB coach the next season and rose to AHC and OC by 2008 under Steve Kragthorpe. He left Louisville in 2009 to rejoin Schnellenberger at FAU, but then moved on to Illinois, UAB and Western Kentucky (under Petrino) before replacing Petrino as head coach in 2015. He was 30-10 (19-5, CUSA) with the Hilltoppers over three seasons, and 36-34 (26-25, Big Ten) at Purdue in 6 years.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin announced the hiring of Fickell on Sunday, November 27th, after his four-year run in Cincinnati produced a 57-18 record over-all and a conference mark of 35-11 while claiming back-to-back American Athletic Conference titles in 2020 and 2021. The Bearcats also played in the 2019 championship game and lost, and were in the hunt once again in 2022 until Tulane's 27-24 upset win at Cincinnati on November 26 in the final game of the regular season. His biggest accomplishment was leading Cincinnati into the College Football Playoff in 2021 when his team went 13-0 before losing to Alabama in the semifinal round.

Wisconsin played the final 7 games of the 2022 season under interim head coach Jim Leonhard. Minds were blown on Sunday (October 2) when the completely unanticipated news began peppering Twitter that Wisconsin had fired Paul Chryst after a 2-3 start. Chryst was 67-26 during his 7-plus seasons in Madison with three Big Ten west division titles, He was 43-18 in conference games and had a 6-1 bowl record. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was immediately named interim head coach. Some compared the move to Nebraska's decision to fire Frank Solich after the 2003 season when he went 9-3 and was 58-19 over-all. The 'Huskers are now on their sixth coach since making that move and none have equaled his winning percentage at Nebraska of .753. Solich went on to become a legend at Ohio University before retiring prior to the 2001 season with a 173-101 career record.

Non-Conference Games (worth noting)

9/2 - West Virginia at Penn State - This was an annual rivalry when both schools were independent programs. West Virginia could not have been that sorry to see the geographical rivalry end as the Nittany Lions were 48-9-2 overall, and 34-2-1 over the last 37 meetings. This will be the first meeting since 1992, after which WVU joined the Big East while Penn State joined the Big Ten.

9/9 - Purdue at Virginia Tech - It's the return trip for Tech's 51-24 win at Purdue back in 2015 when Frank Beamer was still coaching the Hokies and Purdue was coached by Darrell Hazell

9/9 - Nebraska at Colorado - New Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule leads the 'Huskers against Colorado's new head coach, Deion Sanders

9/16 - Virginia Tech at Rutgers - These old Big East foes met in the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2012 with Virginia Tech continuing its domination of the Scarlet Knights with a 13-10 OT win. The were conference foes from 1992-2003. Rutgers won the first 3 meetings meetings in 1920, 1953 and 1992. The Hokies have won the last 12.

9/16 - Washington at Michigan State - This will be the fifth meeting between these two programs. The Spartans will look to avenge a 39-28 loss at Washington last year. The Huskies also prevailed in the 1997 Aloha Bowl and the 1970 season opener at Washington after losing in 1969 at East Lansing.

9/16 - Minnesota at North Carolina - This will be the first meeting between the Gophers and Heels.

9/23 - Ohio State at Notre Dame - This is easily the cream of the crop of NC games involving the B1G. These teams began the season last year in Columbus with the Buckeyes prevailing 21-10 to improve to 5-2 in the series. Ohio State also defeated the Irish in the Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 2015 and 2003 seasons. The Buckeyes last journeyed to South Bend in 1996 where they won 29-16. Notre Dame's only wins came at home in 1936 by a 7-2 count, and in Columbus in 1935 by an 18-13 tally.

Team-by-Team Schedules
*denotes conference game

ILLINOIS
9/2 Toledo
9/9 at Kansas
9/16 Penn State*
9/23 Florida Atlantic
9/30 at Purdue*
10/7 Nebraska*
10/14 at Maryland*
10/21 Wisconsin*
11/4 at Minnesota*
11/1 Indiana*
11/18 at Iowa*
11/25 Northwestern*

INDIANA
9/2 Ohio State*
9/9 Indiana State (FCS)
9/16 Louisville (Indianapolis)
9/23 Akron
9/30 at Maryland*
10/14 at Michigan*
10/21 Rutgers*
10/28 at Penn State*
11/4 Wisconsin*
11/11 at Illinois*
11/18 Michigan State*
11/25 at Purdue*

IOWA
9/2 Utah State
9/9 at Iowa State
9/16 Western Michigan
9/23 at Penn State*
9/30 Michigan State*
10/7 Purdue*
10/14 at Wisconsin*
10/21 Minnesota*
11/4 at Northwestern*
11/11 Rutgers*
11/18 Illinois*
11/24 at Nebraska*

MARYLAND
9/2 Towson (FCS)
9/9 Charlotte
9/16 Virginia
9/23 at Michigan State*
9/30 Indiana*
10/7 at Ohio State*
10/14 Illinois*
10/28 at Northwestern*
11/4 Penn State*
11/11 at Nebraska*
11/18 Michigan*
11/25 at Rutgers*

MICHIGAN
9/2 East Carolina
9/9 Nevada-Las Vegas
9/16 Bowling Green
9/23 Rutgers*
9/30 at Nebraska*
10/7 at Minnesota*
10/14 Indiana*
10/21 at Michigan State*
11/4 Purdue*
11/11 at Penn State*
11/18 at Maryland*
11/25 Ohio State*

MICHIGAN STATE
9/2 Central Michigan
9/9 Richmond (FCS)
9/16 Washington
9/23 Maryland*
9/30 at Iowa*
10/14 at Rutgers*
10/21 Michigan*
10/28 at Minnesota*
11/4 Nebraska*
11/11 at Ohio State*
11/18 at Indiana*
11/25 Penn State*

MINNESOTA
8/31 Nebraska*
9/9 Eastern Michigan
9/16 at North Carolina
9/23 at Northwestern*
9/30 Louisiana-Lafayette
10/7 Michigan*
10/21 at Iowa*
10/28 at Minnesota*
11/4 Illinois*
11/11 at Purdue*
11/18 at Ohio State*
11/25 Wisconsin*

NEBRASKA
8/31 at Minnesota*
9/9 at Colorado
9/16 Northern Illinois
9/23 Louisiana Tech
9/30 Michigan*
10/7 at Illinois*
10/21 Northwestern*
10/28 Purdue*
11/4 at Michigan State*
11/11 Maryland*
11/18 at Wisconsin*
11/24 Iowa*

NORTHWESTERN
9/2 at Rutgers*
9/9 Texas-El Paso
9/16 at Duke
9/23 Minnesota*
9/30 Penn State*
10/14 Howard (FCS)
10/21 at Nebraska*
10/28 Maryland*
11/4 Iowa*
11/11 at Wisconsin*
11/18 Purdue*
11/25 at Illinois*

OHIO STATE
9/2 at Indiana*
9/9 Youngstown State (FCS)
9/16 Western Kentucky
9/23 at Notre Dame
10/7 Maryland*
10/14 at Purdue*
10/21 Penn State*
10/28 at Wisconsin*
11/4 at Rutgers*
11/11 Michigan State*
11/18 Minnesota*
11/25 at Michigan*

PENN STATE
9/2 West Virginia
9/9 Delaware (FCS)
9/16 at Illinois*
9/23 Iowa*
9/30 at Northwestern*
10/14 Massachusetts
10/21 at Ohio State*
10/28 Indiana*
11/4 at Maryland*
11/11 Michigan*
11/18 Rutgers*
11/25 at Michigan State*

PURDUE
9/2 Fresno State
9/9 at Virginia Tech
9/16 Syracuse
9/23 Wisconsin*
9/30 Illinois*
10/7 at Iowa*
10/14 Ohio State*
10/28 at Nebraska*
11/4 at Michigan*
11/11 Minnesota*
11/18 at Northwestern*
11/25 Indiana*

RUTGERS
9/2 Northwestern*
9/9 Temple
9/16 Virginia Tech
9/23 at Michigan*
9/30 Wagner (FCS)
10/7 at Wisconsin*
10/14 Michigan State*
10/21 at Indiana*
11/4 Ohio State*
11/11 at Iowa*
11/18 at Penn State*
11/25 Maryland*

WISCONSIN
9/2 Buffalo
9/9 at Washington State
9/16 Georgia Southern
9/23 at Purdue*
10/7 Rutgers*
10/14 Iowa*
10/21 at Illinois*
10/28 Ohio State
11/4 at Indiana*
11/11 Northwestern*
11/18 Nebraska*
11/25 at Minnesota*