Any college football matchup between Ohio State and Texas immediately becomes one of the games of the year. That is especially true for the season-opening game between the Buckeyes and Longhorns on Aug. 30.

The two teams are fresh off of a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup, a 28–14 Ohio State win, which led to their national championship victory over Notre Dame. The Buckeyes will embark on their national title defense, while Arch Manning is set to start at quarterback for Texas, making his debut as the program's full-time QB1.

The matchup screams "prime time," but with Fox highlighting the game as a Week 1 matchup on the network, indicating that it will be in the Big Noon Saturday slot, many around the program are furious. The network has doubled down on its impressive noon slate in recent years, allowing it to effectively dominate the time slot as ESPN/ABC and other rival networks air their best games at night. Still, a matchup like Ohio State-Texas as a noon kickoff feels bizarre, and many around the Buckeyes program are deeply unhappy with the potential for this game to be played at noon.

A pair of former Buckeyes players, All-American cornerback Chimdi Chekwa and offensive lineman and team captain Bryant Browning, discussed the controversial scheduling decision on the Bleav In Buckeyes podcast, with Chekwa going so far as to say he'll boycott the game if it is in fact scheduled at noon.

“Texas-Ohio State, that’s just historically a prime time-level matchup and it’s almost robbing us of that experience. And it’s a home game!” he said. “This is a game that I will go to and maybe let my let my son and my family experience a night game at Ohio State, big-time matchup versus Texas and we just may not get it. ... I’m close to just organizing a protest here.”

"We need to do something, man, because it is really ridiculous," said Browning, who reflected on the 2005 game between the two sides at Ohio Stadium.

“I remember the scene, the atmosphere, [former Texas quarterback] Vince Young being in the stadium and things of that nature. And people still come up to me and talk about that night. People remember it—that night. And it being at noon really affects things. And especially it being Week 1 of the season kicking off the college football season. It has to be at night. So Fox has to get this right.”

Ohio State is the Big Ten's biggest brand, and as one of the conference's major television partners, Fox has been getting its money's worth with the Buckeyes in that Big Noon spot, much to the chagrin of the program's fans. OSU played seven noon games in 2024, including six consecutive nooners to end the regular season, with five of those games (Marshall, Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana and Michigan) played at home. Nebraska is a name opponent, Indiana was a fellow College Football Playoff team and Michigan is Ohio State's biggest rival, meaning a 3:30 p.m. game with Iowa was likely Ohio State's biggest non-noon kickoff at The Shoe last season (without counting the CFP matchup with Tennessee).

Tex Fischer, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Youngstown, has already put forth a bill that would ban many noon games at Ohio Stadium outside of the Michigan game, which traditionally kicks off in that time slot. While that is certainly a piece of political grandstanding as much as anything else, it outlines just how sick of this treatment that Ohio State fans are just a few years into the Big Ten's massive Fox deal.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ex-Ohio State Players Threaten Boycott of Texas Game Over Fox Time Slot Decision.

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