Big Ten football 2025: Will Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC continue to carry the Friday night load?

In case the West Coast schools didn’t face enough challenges in the Big Ten with the frequency of early kickoffs, time zones crossed and miles logged, a fourth competitive hurdle was tossed their way by the conference and its primary media partner.

UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington drew the Friday night assignments an inordinate number of times last fall. The quartet, which makes up 22 percent of the Big Ten membership, accounted for 39 percent of the slots on the Fox College Football Friday broadcasts.

The Big Ten is evaluating the issue as part of its post-season football review and will seek balance in the 2025 schedule, according to Kerry Kenny, the conference’s chief operating officer who oversees media strategy.

Kenny’s comment was part of a postseason Q&A with the Hotline that covered numerous topics related to the West Coast schools’ first year in the conference.

“Each season is its own puzzle to piece together when it comes to the Friday night inventory, so we’ll evaluate the feedback and, as always, work towards a balanced schedule for the 2025 season,” Kenny wrote.

The West Coast tilt was easy to predict given the Big Ten’s membership breakdown — the four newcomers are thousands of miles from the other 14 — and the outright refusal of at least one school to play on Friday night.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel made his position abundantly clear last fall, telling the ‘Conqu’ring Heroes’ podcast: “We are not having a Friday night game … Absolutely, absolutely not to Friday night.”

Although Manuel’s counterparts at Ohio State and Penn State didn’t make their feelings known publicly, the three heavyweight programs did not participate in the nine-game Friday night package. (Every other team made at least one appearance, except Indiana.)

Yes, clout counts in the Big Ten — it always has. And keeping the biggest brands happy is one reason the conference is not only intact but thriving.

But if three schools are absolved of the Friday night assignment, the math becomes difficult for everyone else, especially the newcomers:

— The four West Coast schools (22 percent of the conference) accounted for seven of the 18 participating slots (39 percent) across the Fox Friday lineup. (Note: We did not count the Black Friday games, Minnesota-Wisconsin and Nebraska-Iowa, which were not part of the official Friday broadcast package.)

— UCLA, Washington and Oregon appeared twice on Fridays; USC appeared once.

— The other schools to make more than one appearance were Rutgers, Michigan State and Purdue.

— Only one of the nine Friday games matched West Coast schools against each other (thereby limiting travel demands on a short week).

The games rated reasonably well: Several drew approximately 2 million viewers; the Oregon-Michigan State matchup approached 3 million; and the Illinois-Nebraska duel attracted 4.1 million, according to the SportsMediaWatch ratings database.

Put another way: There’s no evidence to indicate Big Ten and Fox will eliminate the Friday night package in future seasons.

If anything, it’s the ideal promotional vehicle for Fox’s showcase ‘Big Noon’ broadcast 15 hours later.

“This year brought many new and complex elements into the Big Ten’s TV process,” Kenny explained. “Three full broadcast windows in fixed positions, West Coast travel that needed to be balanced, and an expanded CFP race that deepened the pool of games with a postseason impact late in the season.

“We worked with our media partners to evaluate the impact of the Friday night game time window when games would otherwise be televised during a busy Saturday slate of games, and we’ve appreciated the additional visibility and promotion that this creates for our student-athletes and institutions.”

Multiple sources at the West Coast schools acknowledged the reality of the Friday night assignments: It’s part of their complicated but lucrative existence in the Big Ten.

But there is a certain level of curiosity about the distribution of Friday night assignments in future seasons and whether the Wolverines, Buckeyes and Nittany Lions will ever share in the responsibility.

If the three biggest brands won’t give up a Saturday home game, would they agree to play on the road on Friday night? And would the Big Ten’s network partners allow the trio to be removed from the lineup of Saturday games that drive the largest audiences?

The answer could come in May, when the Big Ten is expected to release the Fox Friday matchups.