2024 will be the first year for the four Pacific Coast schools in the Big Ten. Conference opponents have been released but dates have not. Here is my first draft at some dates to spread out the big games.

Big Ten:

Updated: Full season for all three networks!

Aug. 29: North Carolina at Minnesota (FOX, prime time)
Aug. 31: Illinois at Rutgers (FOX), Southern Miss at Ohio State (CBS), Fresno State at Michigan (NBC)
Sept. 1: Western Michigan at Wisconsin (CBS, TBD)
Sept. 7: Iowa State at Iowa (FOX), Colorado at Nebraska (CBS), Texas at Michigan (NBC), Texas Tech at Oregon (FOX, late night)
Sept. 14: Alabama at Wisconsin (FOX), Penn State at USC (CBS), Notre Dame at Purdue (NBC), Boise State at Oregon (FOX, late night)
Sept. 21: Iowa at Minnesota (FOX), Oregon at Wisconsin (CBS), Nebraska at USC (NBC)
Sept. 28: Illinois at Penn State (FOX), Oregon at UCLA (CBS), Nebraska at Ohio State (NBC)
Oct. 5: Wisconsin at Iowa (FOX), Ohio State at Michigan State (CBS), UCLA at Penn State (NBC)
Oct. 12: Ohio State at Northwestern (FOX), UCLA at Washington (CBS), USC at Michigan (NBC)
Oct. 19: Michigan at Illinois (FOX), Indiana at Ohio State (CBS), Washington at Penn State (NBC)
Oct. 26: Michigan State at Michigan (FOX), Penn State at Minnesota (CBS), Ohio State at Oregon (NBC)
Nov. 2: Iowa at Ohio State (FOX), Michigan at Washington (CBS), Wisconsin at Nebraska (NBC)
Nov. 9: Ohio State at Penn State (FOX), UCLA at Nebraska (CBS), USC at Washington (NBC)
Nov. 16: Penn State at Wisconsin (FOX), Oregon at Michigan (CBS), Iowa at UCLA (NBC)
Nov. 23: Rutgers at Maryland, Minnesota at Michigan (CBS), USC at UCLA (NBC)
Nov. 29: Maryland at Penn State (CBS, noon), Nebraska at Iowa (NBC)
Nov. 30: Michigan at Ohio State (FOX), Notre Dame at USC (CBS), Washington at Oregon (NBC)

Washington and Oregon both still have 1 open spot on their respective schedules. If they follow through with their statements to continue playing their in-state rivals, Oregon vs OSU or Washington vs WSU could play on your August 31st date.

(10-23-2023 01:36 PM)SouthEastAlaska Wrote:  Washington and Oregon both still have 1 open spot on their respective schedules. If they follow through with their statements to continue playing their in-state rivals, Oregon vs OSU or Washington vs WSU could play on your August 31st date.

According to FBSchedules, Washington is hosting Weber State on August 31, 2024. Oregon is booked solid from August 24 to September 14, including a game at Hawaii Week 0. Now of course Washington or Oregon can cancel a game to accommodate Wazzu or Oregon State (Washington only has two non-conference games so they wouldn't have to cancel one). Right now, their other non conference game is September 7. Assuming September 14, 21, October 19, and November 30 are conference games, that would pretty much leave the rest of the schedule for the Apple Cup. WSU has three "non conference" games scheduled but then again we don't even know what conference they're going to be in next year. Two of WSU's games are San Diego State and San Jose State so if they go to the MWC they could become conference games or if the "Pacific" adds San Diego State that game becomes a conference game.

By Network:

FOX:
8/29: North Carolina at Minnesota (Prime Time)
8/31: Illinois at Rutgers
9/7: Iowa State at Iowa, Texas Tech at Oregon (late night)
9/14: Alabama at Wisconsin, Boise State at Oregon (late night)
9/21: Iowa at Minnesota
9/28: Illinois at Penn State
10/5: Wisconsin at Iowa
10/12: Ohio State at Northwestern
10/19: Michigan at Illinois
10/26: Michigan State at Michigan
11/2: Iowa at Ohio State
11/9: Ohio State at Penn State
11/16: Penn State at Wisconsin
11/23: Rutgers at Maryland
11/30: Michigan at Ohio State

CBS:
8/31: Southern Miss at Ohio State
9/1: Western Michigan at Wisconsin
9/7: Colorado at Nebraska
9/14: Penn State at USC
9/21: Oregon at Wisconsin
9/28: Oregon at UCLA
10/5: Ohio State at Michigan State
10/12: UCLA at Washington
10/19: Indiana at Ohio State
10/26: Penn State at Minnesota
11/2: Michigan at Washington
11/9: UCLA at Nebraska
11/16: Oregon at Michigan
11/23: Minnesota at Michigan
11/29: Maryland at Penn State (noon)
11/30: Notre Dame at USC

NBC:
8/31: Fresno State at Michigan
9/7: Texas at Michigan
9/14: Notre Dame at Purdue
9/21: Nebraska at USC
9/28: Nebraska at Ohio State
10/5: UCLA at Penn State
10/12: USC at Michigan
10/19: Washington at Penn State
10/26: Ohio State at Oregon
11/2: Wisconsin at Nebraska
11/9: USC at Washington
11/16: Iowa at UCLA
11/23: USC at UCLA
11/29: Nebraska at Iowa
11/30: Washington at Oregon

Updates from 1st draft:

Missed the fact that Purdue at Notre Dame were playing so I decided to stagger Michigan/Washington and Penn State/USC. It also prevented Michigan from playing Texas and Washington back to back in September.

I did some trading with CBS and NBC. The big one is CBS now gets Notre Dame at USC, at least this year. NBC gets Notre Dame at Purdue. NBC also gets the first Big Ten Washington at Oregon season finale (assuming they are the season finale and both schools don't renew their in state rivals that week).

For this season, I purposedly kept Pacific Teams off the Big Nooner. Will that stick? I'm guessing no. Did FOX really pay that much money for the current Big Ten and never get any of the Pacific teams? I think a compromise would be Pacific Teams can play Big Nooners on the road but not host them.

The Black Friday game at Penn State is an afternoon game, not prime time, so it shouldn't interfere with Friday Night high school football. That is usually PIAA playoffs though. If PSU doesn't want it, Minnesota/Wisconsin or Purdue/Indiana could take it.

Most schools have non conference games Week 1. Penn State is at West Virginia, USC is playing LSU in Las Vegas and that's an ABC game. The only unscheduled teams are Illinois, Purdue, and Rutgers.

An effort was made so that all three networks could visit Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State at least once. There's only so many Ohio State games to choose from, I promised FOX Iowa-Ohio State, and if FOX gets no Pacific games they have to get some good games, so (updated) CBS was stuck with Southern Mississippi and Indiana as their OSU home game (they also get Ohio State at Michigan State). I gave NBC two Penn State games since Todd Blackledge is a PSU alum. CBS won't get to go to Oregon (NBC got both Ohio State-Oregon and Washington-Oregon) but has two Oregon road games. NBC will get to go to all four Pacific schools at least once.

FOX did air a few late night games the past few years. Oregon has a couple of non conference games. There should be no problem airing Boise State-Oregon late night games. Texas Tech might be an issue, that can be moved to FS1, BTN, or Peacock if TTU refuses. I think I have all the conference games involving Pac schools accounted for.

Ohio State-Oregon is the game vs. the W___ S____ (we in Philly don't want to say those two words right now). Oregon has no baseball team and the Indians and Reds didn't make the playoffs this year so I might be OK. Wisconsin-Nebraska could go up vs. a potential Game 7. I hope the Brewers aren't in it.

Which network has the best games? Worst? Other than the obvious one, what are the best TV games? Worst conference games?

I'm sure there are errors but a full schedule for all 18 teams!

Updated above with a full schedule for all 18 teams!

Interesting:
- Illinois is playing 4 Michigan schools at home. They are only missing Western Michigan.
- UCLA is playing Fresno St the final game of the season.
- UCLA plays 7 road games: Hawaii, LSU, Nebraska, Penn St, Rutgers, USC, Washington. Yes, one is cross-town. While Purdue plays 6 road games, no one else plays more than 5. Michigan, Ohio St, and USC each play 4 true road games.
- There's a number of non-B1G schools playing 2 B1G schools. As contraction via expansion continues, we'll see more of this.

(10-31-2023 03:14 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Interesting:
- Illinois is playing 4 Michigan schools at home. They are only missing Western Michigan.
- UCLA is playing Fresno St the final game of the season.
- UCLA plays 7 road games: Hawaii, LSU, Nebraska, Penn St, Rutgers, USC, Washington. Yes, one is cross-town. While Purdue plays 6 road games, no one else plays more than 5. Michigan, Ohio St, and USC each play 4 true road games.
- There's a number of non-B1G schools playing 2 B1G schools. As contraction via expansion continues, we'll see more of this.

UCLA did schedule both LSU and Hawaii on the road non conference and was given five road games by the Big Ten this year. Because one of the road games is Hawaii, UCLA is allowed to schedule a 13th game to get a sixth home game but they have not yet done so. The Fresno State game is courtesy of FBSchedules.com.

This year (2023) Ohio State only has six home games (they had five road games since all East Division teams got five road games) and they played at Notre Dame so eight home games in 2024 might be a make up.

I didn't realize this when I put the schedule together but it's obviously not a coincidence. Even though divisions are no longer a thing, all 2023 East Division teams have five home games in 2024, I assume because they had four home games in 2023 and all 2023 West Division teams have four home games. That will reverse in 2025. USC and Washington were given five home games in 2024 and UCLA and Oregon were given four. Considering UCLA already has two road games and USC has only the neutral game with LSU in Vegas, maybe they should have switched that.