STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Mike Mulvihill, Fox’s president of insights and analytics, has seen photos of the white T-shirts being sold at The Family Clothesline in downtown State College.
In bold navy-blue lettering, the shirts displayed at the front of the store read: Big Noon Games Suck.
“How does it feel to speak to the most hated man in Happy Valley this week?” Mulvihill asked over the phone Thursday morning as he navigated an airport bopping from Fox’s coverage of the World Series in New York before shifting gears for “Big Noon Kickoff” on location in State College this weekend.
Ah yes, he knows precisely how some Penn State fans view Saturday’s noon start for No. 3 Penn State vs. No. 4 Ohio State. But, before anyone tries to vilify Fox for making this the Big Noon game, Mulvihill implores fans to hear him out.
The streams of comments announcing this game with Fox Big Noon and the accompanying pre-game show haven’t made the network many fans in Happy Valley. Some fans lament Big Noon for taking their marquee home game, one that Penn State wanted as the night White Out game, and instead putting it in the noon TV slot.
You know what, they’re absolutely right, we need to show up and show out at BOTH shows!! Don’t forget to stop by The Family Clothesline and pick up one of these before you go! https://t.co/WrmnoluoNP pic.twitter.com/tazkipsydV
— The Penn State Troll 🦁🧌 (@ThePSUTroll) October 28, 2024
Here’s how we got here: Fox had selections one, two, five, six and seven in the annual network draft between itself, CBS and NBC. Think of the draft like you would a fantasy football draft. There’s a big board and networks take turns. This Penn State-Ohio State game was not selected within the top four picks.
“This game was on the board for us at No. 5 when we have three consecutive picks and there’s just no way that I can allow this game to fall to the eighth pick,” Mulvihill said. “That would almost be malpractice on my part. … Given the draft played out the way it did, it was just obvious that we had to take it.”
The announcement of a noon kick this month wasn’t a surprise, but Penn State fans have posted on social media about potentially boycotting “Big Noon Kickoff” and instead going to ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which is also on-location outside Beaver Stadium on Saturday. Mulvihill hopes that doesn’t happen, but, he also knows putting the conference’s marquee game at noon will never win everyone over.
“It’s our job to put the schools that we’re partners with in front of as many people as possible,” Mulvihill said. “If we can provide our schools as much exposure as possible, that should not just benefit Fox, but that should benefit those programs. What we’ve found over the last 6 years is that it’s very clear that putting our best game on at noon is what delivers the biggest audiences for these games.”
What Fox found was that Penn State-Ohio State, which was the Big Noon game the last time the Buckeyes were in State College two years ago, performs about a third better at noon ratings-wise than when it’s aired in prime time, Mulvihill said.
“There’s a belief that prime time is somehow inherently better, but that’s not really matched up by the analysis,” he said.
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Still, that doesn’t mean fans have to like it. TV ratings are often the farthest thing from their minds. They care about Penn State having a team that can push an Ohio State roster with a national title or bust mindset. Saturday is also the last time Ohio State will play in Beaver Stadium until 2028. Penn State heads to Columbus next year and then cycles through games against Michigan in 2026 and 2027 before the Buckeyes return.
At noon, there’s less time to tailgate. Anyone heading downtown Friday night — and this town is already brimming with anticipation for Saturday — will likely need to turn in before last call. The Beaver Stadium traffic woes that are notorious around here for noon games — the byproduct of everyone arriving within a tight window as opposed to traffic flowing throughout the day as it would for a 3:30 p.m. or night game — are bound to crop up Saturday morning.
“(That) 7:30 energy is always different,” said middle linebacker Kobe King. “With a noon game, we just get right to it.”
Saturday is the first time in 25 years Beaver Stadium will host two teams ranked in the top five of the AP poll. As the dueling ESPN “College Gameday” and Fox “Big Noon Kickoff” pre-game show sets get constructed in the parking lots outside Beaver Stadium, the magnitude of Saturday is clear. It’s an inflection point for this season, for the College Football Playoff race and for a community that lives and breathes with the ebbs and flows of each fall Saturday.
Mulvihill understands the desire of students and fans who want to sleep in before diving into the game in prime time. But, ratings and television money are king.
“I think there’s a less vocal part of the fanbase that appreciates the daytime starts because we’ve heard from coaches and ADs throughout the conference that they like the logistics of the daytime starts,” Mulvihill said. “When you play a night game on the road your team may not get home until 3 o’clock in the morning.”
He understands why some fans still haven’t wrapped their heads around what was viewed as an unconventional idea in the spring of 2019 when Fox gathered with Big Ten head coaches and athletic directors to pitch them this idea of taking the conference’s top game that week and slotting it at noon. At the time, Penn State head coach James Franklin was one of the biggest supporters.
Wednesday night, Franklin tongue in cheek said he loves a noon start.
“I’ve seen it all over social media,” Franklin said. “Our fans could not be more excited. … Nothing better than a noon game in Happy Valley.”
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While Penn State’s annual White Out game is next Saturday against Washington (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten), Fox did work with Penn State to ensure the White Out would not be at noon. While there’s very little Penn State can do to prevent any network from selecting its game, there was an agreement that by selecting Penn State-Ohio State at noon, Fox would not also snag the White Out.
And, let’s not forget perhaps the other piece of all this. As fans at home settle in to watch Penn State-Ohio State, viewers in two key states in the presidential election will continue to be bombarded with campaign ads during commercials. That too, is a large reason why this game ended up on Fox at noon.
“The election piece was absolutely part of it,” Mulvihill said. “I’m sure there’s fatigue around campaign advertising in Pennsylvania because it might be the most important state in the election, but we did take that pretty seriously that the game is three days out from election day and we knew it’d be one of the biggest games of the season and we wanted to capitalize on that advertising opportunity.”
(Photo: Matthew O’Haren / Imagn Images)
