Football Kicks Off Historic Week 1 Slate

BIG TEN FOOTBALL RELEASE - WEEK 1  |  STANDINGS  |  MEDIA GUIDE  |  SCHEDULE  |  BIG TEN MAILING LIST

ROSEMONT, Illinois -- The Big Ten Conference kicks off its 127th football season on Thursday, August 31, when Minnesota hosts Nebraska at 8pm ET on FOX to open a historic weekend throughout the league. 

The 2023 campaign will be the Big Ten's first with a new roster of broadcast partners, as it will be the only league in college football to air games on three over-the-air networks (CBS, FOX, NBC). 

The Week 1 slate features three conference matchups with Ohio State visiting Indiana on Saturday (3:30pm ET, CBS), and Northwestern visiting Rutgers on Sunday (12pm ET, CBS), in addition to the Gophers and Cornhuskers on Thursday night. NBC's coverage will kick off Saturday night when Penn State hosts West Virginia (7:30pm ET), while Michigan's Saturday matinee matchup with East Carolina will be carried exclusively on Peacock.  

The Big Ten welcomes four new head coaches to the sidelines for the 2023 campaign in in Nebraska’s Matt Rhule, Northwestern’s David Braun, Purdue’s Ryan Walters and Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell. The 2023 campaign also will feature 99 returning All-Big Ten honorees (first-, second-, third-team or honorable mention) selected by either the coaches or the media last season, with Ohio State leading the way with 16 all-conference returnees. The East Division welcomes back 56 all-conference players, while the West returns 43. Illinois is the only West team with double-digit all-conference returnees with 10, while each team has at least one All-Big Ten performer returning.

The National College Football Awards Association announced the 2023 watch lists July 31-Aug. 14, with 83 different Big Ten players featured for expected on-field performance. Thirteen schools are represented with Michigan and Ohio State leading the way with 14 honorees each, followed by Penn State with 10 and Iowa with eight.