Texas Reportedly Denied OSU's Request to Move Week 1 CFB Kickoff to Primetime TV Slot

Texas already has its hands full with a season-opening road matchup against the reigning national champions, and it reportedly prevented Ohio State from creating an even more hostile environment and moving the highly anticipated showdown to prime time.

Chip Brown of 247Sports reported Thursday the Longhorns denied the Buckeyes' request to move the game to a prime-time window of late afternoon or evening on Sunday, Aug. 31.

Since that is Labor Day weekend and the NFL's regular season won't have started yet, playing later in the day Sunday seemed like a golden opportunity to create even more buildup for what could be a clash between the nation's two top teams.

Instead, the game will remain on Saturday, Aug. 30, and presumably at noon ET. That is the time slot Fox traditionally reserves for its marquee game of the day to avoid competing with other headline contests on other networks in prime time.

This surely won't sit well with many Ohio State fans, who have already expressed their outrage over so many of their school's marquee games being played in the noon window because of the Big Ten's television deal with Fox.

An Ohio lawmaker even introduced a bill proposing that Buckeyes games can't kick off earlier than 3:30 p.m. ET if the Scarlet and Gray and their opponent are both ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll.

Much of the frustration stems from last season when Ohio State finished its regular season with six straight noon kickoffs. While the season-ending rivalry with Michigan is traditionally at that time, that span also included massive showdowns against eventual College Football Playoff teams in Penn State and Indiana.

It is also a continuation of a pattern for the Buckeyes since the Big Ten entered the television deal with Fox, as they are the headline team the network consistently uses in that time slot to boost ratings.

From Texas' perspective, this decision is unsurprising and makes sense.

After all, it gives the fans less time to tailgate and get ready to create a hostile environment. What's more, it prevents a short week ahead of the second game of the season, which would have happened if the contest was moved to Sunday.

Tennessee was the last SEC team to come into the Horseshoe at prime time, and it left on the wrong end of a 42-17 blowout that ended its short CFP stint and jumpstarted the Buckeyes' run to the national title.

While fans who plan on attending the Texas game might not like the likely timing of the contest, it figures to be one of the biggest matchups of the entire college football season.

There will be no shortage of star power with Arch Manning, Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, among others, taking the field. It will also be a rematch of last season's CFP semifinal game, which Ohio State won in large part because of a goal-line stand in the final minutes that ended with Jack Sawyer returning a fumble for a touchdown.

Whichever team wins will have a massive boost to its CFP resume before conference play even starts.