These B1G games won’t be getting a primetime national broadcast, but they’re worth your attention

Yes, noon B1G games have been the butt of many jokes from those outside of the Midwest.

But that might be no longer.

Why? Well, based on the announcement we got this week, it looks like FOX decided to beef up that noon slot to capture the non-primetime market. For the sake of this exercise, however, we’re still going to consider anything in that noon slot a non-primetime game.

Primetime games are anything in that 3:30/7-8:30 p.m. ET slot that are broadcast on the likes of ABC, FOX, FS1 or ESPN.

These B1G games won’t be getting those coveted primetime slots, but they’ll definitely be worth your attention:

1. TCU at Purdue

When: Sept. 14

Where: Big Ten Network, 7:30 p.m. ET

A pair of teams who won 6 games apiece in the regular season last year doesn’t exactly warrant the 7:30 ABC slot, but this is still a solid matchup of well-coached teams. Plus, any chance to see Rondale Moore under the lights seems like a good one. Everyone remembers how good he was in home night games against Northwestern and Ohio State.

Oh, you don’t remember?

The good news for Purdue? TCU returns less than half of its defensive production from 2018. The bad news for Purdue? TCU’s only game before that is Aug. 31 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In other words, they’ll have an entire offseason and then some to prepare for Moore and Jeff Brohm’s offense.

2. Iowa at Nebraska

When: Nov. 29

Where: Big Ten Network, 2:30 p.m. ET

Much has been made about the decision to air this one on BTN. This is the first time that the game won’t air on ABC or FOX, which was the result of BTN fighting to land what has become one of the conference’s best rivalries (even though it was a manufactured one in the first half of the decade).

For Iowa and Nebraska fanbases across the country, this is probably a major bummer. Then again, the diehards probably found a way to get BTN on a variety of cable packages. Perhaps adding a game like this on Black Friday incentivizes the need to add BTN even more.

Whatever the case, it’s always great drama when these teams play. With Nebraska getting more preseason buzz than Iowa — which still is somewhat baffling — it’ll be interesting to see what’s on the line in the regular season finale. Lord knows Scott Frost would love nothing more to get in the win column against Nebraska’s biggest conference rival.

3. Iowa at Michigan

When: Oct. 5

Where: TBD, Noon ET

If this matchup is anything like last time they met, we’re in for a treat. I’d love to see Jim Harbaugh decorate Iowa’s locker room pink, though I think he’ll have bigger issues to worry about. Like trying to keep Shea Patterson from getting punished by A.J. Epenesa.

It’s interesting that they would come out with this game for the noon slot already when both have a fairly decent chance of being top-20 teams. This won’t have the feel of a sleepy noon game. In fact, there’s even a chance it serves as a B1G Championship preview. It won’t surprise me when ABC/ESPN picks this one up.

4. Michigan at Wisconsin

When: Sept. 21

Where: FOX, Noon ET

Isn’t it weird that this will mark the fourth consecutive year in which these teams will meet? It’s part of what made Michigan’s road to reach Indianapolis so difficult, in my opinion. The home team won that matchup each of the last 3 years, with all of those matchups involving 2 ranked teams.

This will be a rare early-season conference test for the Wolverines, who have 2 weeks to prepare for the Badgers after what’ll be an atypical matchup against Army. It wouldn’t surprise me if both were ranked among the top 15 like last year, though I expect both squads will be better overall than they were a year ago.

Get ready to see some sort of graphic like this:

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There’s a lot to unpack with numbers like that in terms of value, expectations and perception.

Hey FOX, feel free to credit me when you use that.

5. FAU at Ohio State

When: Aug. 31

Where: FOX, Noon ET

Man, where do I start? How about the debuts of Ryan Day and Justin Fields? Even though it’ll be the second season opener in which Day is a head coach and this will be Fields’ second season in college, both will be doing so as top dogs in Columbus for the first time. That should be plenty interesting.

And you’ve also got the Lane Train making a stop in B1G country. While Lane Kiffin’s squads haven’t exactly fared well against legit Power 5 foes the last 2 years — the Owls lost by a combined score of 94-28 against Oklahoma and Wisconsin — it’ll still be worth watching to see what he tries to cook up.

6. Pitt at Penn State

When: Sept. 14

Where: ABC, Noon ET

Yes, Penn State fans. You’re allowed to have a rival. Has Pitt played like a rival the last 2 years? A combined score of 84-20 suggests that’s not the case. But I’m here for Pat Narduzzi making some wild prediction about how his team is going to roll past Penn State.

I’m also here for Penn State players/fans or whoever to come out and once again declare that it isn’t a rivalry … even though the Pennsylvania schools played each other every year from 1935-92 and it’s actually only a 52-43 Penn State lead in the series.

Nothing would sound the panic alarms at Penn State like losing at home to a Pitt team that it beat 51-6 last year. And on the flip side, nothing would provide more validity to the “it’s not a rivalry” claim than another Penn State beatdown.

Whatever the case, it’s a good thing this one will at least be on ABC.

7. Ohio State vs. Michigan

When: Nov. 30

Where: FOX, Noon ET

If you really need a reason to be convinced to watch this game, well, I’m sorry.

You just might not like sports.