Nebraska football is back on ESPN to start the 2019 season, and it has plum midafternoon kickoff times for two of its rivalry games.
The Huskers announced on Thursday five kickoff times for the 2019 season. Four of the games had networks attached to them. NU’s Aug. 31 season opener against South Alabama will kickoff at 11 a.m. on ESPN — Nebraska wasn’t on the network all of last season — while the Sept. 7 game at Colorado will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on Fox’s national network. NU’s Sept. 14 game against Northern Illinois will get a 7 p.m. kickoff on FS1.
Nebraska’s Oct. 5 homecoming game against Northwestern will get either a 2:30 or 3 p.m. kickoff — network not determined — while the big Black Friday game against Iowa gets a throwback kickoff time of 1:30 p.m. on BTN. The 1:30 kick was one of the preferred kickoff times for most NU home games. The BTN assignment comes as Fox chose Texas Tech at Texas for its 11 a.m. game that day and the Apple Cup — Washington State at Washington — for 3 p.m. that day.
That leaves seven of Nebraska’s Big Ten games without kickoff times or networks, which is more than some Big Ten teams. Iowa, for example, has three extra league games scheduled because it plays Rutgers in week two and travels to Michigan and Northwestern for homecoming games, all of which were given kickoffs, if not networks.
The remainder of NU’s kickoff times and network assignments — including for marquee home games against Ohio State and Wisconsin — will likely be announced two weeks from those games. In some cases a six-day window can be utilized, as well.
Here’s the list of announced game times:
Aug. 31: South Alabama, 11 a.m. ESPN
Sept. 7: at Colorado, 2:30 p.m. FOX
Sept. 14: Northern Illinois, 7 p.m. FS1
Oct. 5: Northwestern, 2:30/3 p.m. TBA
Nov. 29: Iowa, 1:30 p.m. BTN
Former Husker assistant Turner Gill takes a football job in SEC
Former Nebraska quarterback and assistant coach Turner Gill wasn’t out of college football for long. After retiring as Liberty’s head football coach late last year to spend more time with his wife, Gill took a job at Arkansas as Executive Director of Student-Athlete and Staff Development.
“Adding someone with Turner’s experience and knowledge to our staff is going to provide a tremendous boost for our student-athletes and our staff,” Arkansas coach Chad Morris said in a statement released by Arkansas. “From his time as a player at Nebraska to working in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers to serving as a head coach, he has so much to offer our athletes, coaches and staff. We’re excited for him to be a Razorback and have him help build our culture.”
Gill had previously been the head coach at Liberty, Kansas and Buffalo —where he won a MAC Championship. Prior to Buffalo, Gill was the Director of Player Development for the Green Bay Packers in 2005. He coached at Nebraska for 13 seasons, his last coming in 2004 for Bill Callahan.