Huskers AD: No Friday games except Black Friday

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterSep 25, 2024, 12:21 AM ET

Close

• College football press reporter.
• Signed up with ESPN.com in 2008.
• Graduate of Northwestern University.Despite a raucous atmosphere last Friday night at Nebraska’s Memorial Arena, the school is not looking for a repeat event.Athletic director Troy Dannen stated Tuesday he sent a letter to Big 10 commissioner Tony Petitti, asking for that Nebraska no longer host Friday night games besides its traditional Black Friday contest against rival Iowa, which occurs every other year.Dannen, speaking on the Huskers Radio Network, said he composed the letter with support from university chancellor Rodney Bennett and University of Nebraska system president Jeffrey Gold.Nebraska canceled in-person classes Friday to enable students to prepare for the game against Illinois, which drew the school’s 400th consecutive sellout crowd. The Huskers misused a late lead and fell 31-24 to Illinois in overtime.Editor’s Picks 2 Related”Even if of the size of the stadium and the locale, I don’t believe we wish to be canceling in-person classes, “Dannen said during his month-to-month look on the
  

  Huskers Radio Network

  .”I make sure the trainees didn’t mind. However at the end of the day the more we can avoid that, I think, the better off everybody will be.”Dannen stated Nebraska would accept further Friday night games and that he didn’t like other Big Ten schools “laying their foot down”about no weeknight games.”I’m not exactly sure any institutions need to

  have the unilateral capability to do that,”Dannen said.Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, speaking earlier this month on the school’s”Conqu’ring Heroes” podcast, said the Wolverines would not be hosting Friday night games. Other Big Ten schools with enormous arenas, such as Ohio State and

  Penn State, have resisted hosting Friday games. This season, 6 Huge Ten schools don’t play on Fridays, while 6 others will play two Friday contests, consisting of first-year members USC, Washington and Oregon.Petitti has championed Friday games as national direct exposure chances for Big Ten schools, noting the strong television rankings they generally generate. Several Huge 10 schools often open their seasons with Thursday or Friday games on Labor Day weekend, consisting of Michigan State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois. Indiana’s 2nd games this fall happened on a Friday, and Northwestern hosted a Week 2 Friday game against Duke.But there has been some resistance to weeknight games following Week 1, as coaches point out the conflicts with high school football.Other Big 10 teams set to host Friday night games this season consist of Rutgers, which deals with Washington this week, as well as Oregon, Maryland, Purdue, USC, UCLA, Washington and Michigan State.

  Nebraska will check out Iowa for a prime-time clash Nov. 29, Black Friday, and Minnesota will go to Wisconsin earlier in the day.