Buckeyes early football games to kick off at noon

6/20/2007
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS Ohio State s first two games this fall against Youngstown State and Akron will be televised on the new Big Ten Network and will kick off at noon.

Game times have now been set for seven of the Buckeyes 12 games.

The Buckeyes open their 118th year of football Sept. 1 at home against Youngstown State. The following week, they play host to Akron.

The Big Ten Conference announced last month that Ohio State s games Sept. 15 at Washington and Oct. 20 at home against Michigan State would start at 3:30 p.m.

The Buckeyes play 8 p.m. games at Minnesota on Sept. 29, at Purdue on Oct. 6 and at Penn State on Oct. 27.

The Washington and Michigan State games will appear on ABC, with the other three on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.

The Big Ten Network is working on reaching agreements with all carriers, although it currently has contracts with only DirecTV and AT&T along with Buckeye CableSystem. It is scheduled to launch programming in August.