Indiana football game times, TV designations announced for first three weeks

The Curt Cignetti era with Indiana football is less than 100 days away and the game times and TV designations have been announced for the first three weeks.

Indiana will open its season at home on August 31 with a 3:30 pm ET kick on the Big Ten Network against Florida International. Week two will be a Friday night game on Big Ten Network at 7 pm ET on September 6 against Western Illinois at home. Then, Indiana football will travel to Pasadena for a 7:30 pm ET kick on NBC against UCLA on Saturday September 14. This will be IU’s first trip to Pasadena since the 1968 Rose Bowl appearance following a 1967 Big Ten championship.

This will be the first year of the new media deal with the Big Ten, and will be IU’s first game on NBC with the new media rights.

The changing dynamics of college football and the massive new TV contract was a factor in Cignetti’s decision to come to the Big Ten and Indiana. 

“Indiana came calling and that Big Ten [TV] contract they signed really caught my attention at the time,” Cignetti said. “It became very apparent that the Big Ten and the SEC were going to be the two big players in Power Four football.”

Below is the full release from Indiana football.

Related: New turf installed at Indiana football indoor practice facility highlights admin support suggested by Curt Cignetti

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten Conference and its television partners have announced kickoff times and networks for the first three weeks of the college football season. The times include the home debut for head coach Curt Cignetti, a Friday night contest, and the Big Ten opener at UCLA.

Cignetti will begin his Indiana tenure on Saturday, August 31, with a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff against FIU at Memorial Stadium. The 2024 meeting will be the fourth all-time between the two programs and the first since a 38-28 Indiana victory in Miami, Florida, during the 2018 season.

The Hoosiers will square off with Western Illinois under the Friday night lights on September 6 at 7 p.m. ET for the first meeting between the two programs. This will be the seventh Friday night contest in IU history with a 4-2 overall mark in those games.

In the first Big Ten game to feature one of the four new members of the conference, UCLA and Indiana meet for the first time in the historic Rose Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Indiana will make a trip to Pasadena, California, for the first time since its 1968 Rose Bowl appearance that followed a 1967 Big Ten championship and culminated with a final ranking of No. 4 in the Associated Press rankings.

SEE ALSO: ‘Something’s got to give and it wasn’t going to be me’: Curt Cignetti has won at every stop. He doesn’t expect that to change with Indiana football

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