Ohio State’s Week 9 home game against Nebraska on Oct. 26 will be played at noon and be broadcast on FOX as part of the network’s “Big Noon Kickoff,” the school announced on Monday.
This marks the second game the Buckeyes will appear in the nationally televised noon slot on FOX this season, with Ohio State’s 49-14 Week 4 win over Marshall on Sept. 21 also airing on the network. The Buckeyes are also set to face off against Michigan in the same time slot and network on Nov. 30.
The game times and TV designations for Ohio State’s games against No. 3 Penn State (Nov. 2), Purdue (Nov. 9) Northwestern at Wrigley Field (Nov. 16) and No. 16 Indiana (Nov. 23) have all yet to be announced.
Ohio State (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) and Nebraska (5-1, 2-1 in Big Ten) will face off following the Buckeyes’ off week on Oct. 26 in just their 11th-all time matchup, with Ohio State holding a 9-1 lead in the series.
The Buckeyes and Cornhuskers last faced off in the 2021 season, when former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and wideout Jaxon Smith-Njibga led the Scarlet and Gray to a 26-17 road win at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium on Nov. 6, 2021, with Stroud completing 36 of 54 passes for 405 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions and Smith-Njigba going for 240 receiving yards and a score on 15 receptions.
Nebraska last played in Columbus on Oct. 24, 2020, when the Buckeyes romped the Cornhuskers 52-17 in front of an empty Ohio Stadium crowd in what was the first game of the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. Former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields led the Buckeyes to that win by completing 20 of his 21 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
Nebraska, now led by true freshman and former five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola — who originally committed to Ohio State in 2022 before decommitting seven months later, flipping to Georgia, and then flipping to Nebraska in 2023 — will be looking for its first win over the Buckeyes since Oct. 8, 2011, when the Bo Pelini-led Cornhuskers overcame a 21-point second-half deficit to defeat the Braxton Miller-led Buckeyes 34-27 in Nebraska’s first-ever Big Ten home game.
The Cornhuskers, coached by former NFL head coach Matt Rhule, boast the nation’s seventh-best scoring and rushing defense and at 11.3 points and 84.2 rushing yards allowed per game, although those numbers may change after they travel to No. 16 Indiana this Saturday.
