SEC on ABC ratings crushes FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff in season of harsh criticism

Penn State and Big Ten fans have always slandered FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff when it was introduced several years ago, but this season the complaints seemed to escalate. 

In the past, Penn State’s White Out game would always be against the best team they host in a given year. When the White Out was introduced in 2004 until 2021, Penn State played 13 ranked opponents in 16 games. From 2010 to 2019, the White Out game was only played against Ohio State, Michigan, and Alabama.

FOX then got their hands on the premier Big Ten games of each week, which impacted Penn State specifically beginning in 2021. Big Noon forced Penn State to make a tough decision whether to play White Out games at Noon. The school opted to play the White Out game for the best primetime home game on their schedule, ultimately leaving fans outraged at FOX for forcing Penn State’s marquee home game each year to be played at Noon without a White Out.

Since then, other Big Ten fan bases have joined in to slander FOX, specifically Ohio State and Michigan fans for forcing their annual regular-season finale matchup to be played at Noon. Ohio State finished its 2024 season with SIX consecutive Noon games, five of which aired on FOX Big Noon Kickoff.

Listen, it's understandable why FOX has adored their Big Noon Kickoff program. It allows them to have a window every college football Saturday where they have a premium matchup. However, it’s just not ideal for fans, and they should understand why that’s the case. The Penn State White Out game should be played under the lights every year, and as long as FOX is in the picture, that will not be the case moving forward.

Awful Announcing created a graphic featuring the television ratings of the marquee television slots for each network.

The SEC and ABC dominated the television ratings for the 2024 college football season. The ABC primetime slot’s viewership increased drastically, up 106% from last season. This can largely be attributed to the SEC not being on CBS’s late afternoon slate anymore, which led to every marquee SEC matchup being played on primetime on ABC each week.

FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff was down 10% in the ratings, just a season after being the most-watched college football slot. FOX led the ratings the past three seasons, and kudos to them. However, they are trending downwards after the SEC on CBS was disbanded. CBS is not measured by Nielsen, but it’s hard to imagine that they came anywhere close to ABC’s 7.39 million viewership average in their primetime slot

Penn State and Big Ten fans should continue to complain about FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff, because, well, that’s what people do on social media. Penn State NEEDS the White Out to be primetime again!