The Game will officially be a noon game on FOX once again.
As part of its annual upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday, FOX announced that it will broadcast Ohio State’s annual rivalry game with Michigan on Nov. 28 in its traditional noon time slot.
The Game returns to FOX.
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) May 11, 2026
Watch as @UMichFootball and @OhioStateFB go head-to-head on November 28. Who ya got? pic.twitter.com/6LIpPx1rsG
It will be FOX’s ninth straight broadcast of The Game dating back to 2017. FOX has broadcast the Ohio State vs. Michigan game every year except 2020, when The Game was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Michigan, since becoming the Big Ten’s primary television partner in 2017.
The Game routinely draws the largest audience of any game in the entire college football regular season, as it did last year, when 18.4 million people watched the Buckeyes’ 27-9 win over the Wolverines.
In a somewhat more surprising development, the other regular-season game FOX announced it will be airing this year wasn‘t Ohio State’s Big Ten Championship Game rematch with Indiana on Oct. 17 or its home game against Oregon on Nov. 7. Instead, FOX announced it will televise Michigan’s home game against Oklahoma on Sept. 12.
Mark your calendars. @OU_Football takes on @UMichFootball in Ann Arbor in this star-studded Week 2 matchup. Who ya got? pic.twitter.com/Ou2vzPsY01
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) May 11, 2026
Ohio State plays at Texas on Sept. 12, but that game will likely air at 7:30 p.m. on ABC, which controls the rights to that game as the SEC’s television partner since the Longhorns are the home team.
Assuming FOX used one of its top three picks in this year’s Big Ten TV network draft to secure the rights to Michigan/Oklahoma, that likely means one of the Ohio State/Indiana or Ohio State/Oregon games will air on CBS and NBC. A home night game at the Shoe remains unlikely, however, because NBC has already announced it will air Notre Dame’s Nov. 7 game against Miami in its 7:30 p.m. time slot. As such, Ohio State vs. Oregon appears likely to be a 3:30 p.m. game on CBS, as it would be a surprise if FOX passed up the opportunity to air Buckeyes vs. Hoosiers, a matchup of college football’s last two national champions.
Ohio State vs. Michigan at noon is the first kickoff time to be officially announced for the Buckeyes’ 2026 season. TV networks and kickoff times for the first three weeks of the season are typically announced in May, so those details will likely be set for Ohio State’s non-conference games against Ball State (Sept. 5), Texas (Sept. 12) and Kent State (Sept. 19) later this month.
FOX also made it official on Monday that it will air the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 5. The 2026 Big Ten Championship Game was originally set to air on NBC, but FOX bought the game back last month, reportedly paying between $45-55 million to NBC while also giving NBC the rights to one additional Big Ten game this season.
