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Ohio State Legend Calls Out Texas Over Week 1 Controversy

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Brendan Howe | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 4:21 PM ET

Less than eight months after the two historic programs met in a College Football Playoff semifinal, the Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes will ring in the new season together. The season opener's kickoff time has been a hot-button topic, and former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones recently weighed in.

Jones wanted Buckeyes faithful to know it wasn't their team's fault that the game is slated to start at noon on Aug. 30.

"I ran into one of the analysts, one of the hosts of the FOX Big Noon show," Jones said recently on "The Script" podcast. "And not the Buckeye (Urban Meyer). ... Quote, 'Please tell Buckeye Nation this is not on us. We wanted this game to be prime time, but since ABC and NBC has that slot, they denied our request. So the next best thing was moving this game to Sunday, which OSU was all for, but Texas denied.

"'They did not wanna have one less day to prepare for their following game against San Jose State.'"

San Jose State, not nearly the test for Texas that Ohio State is, hasn't had a double-digit-win season since 2012. The Spartans went 7-6 a campaign ago.

"To the credit of the Big Noon show ... and that staff, I mean, clearly they want this thing to be prime time as much as possible because their show gets the best ratings when things are prime time," Jones said. "It always looks better when things are prime time. So, Buckeye Nation, get off their backs. It was a lot of moving parts. They wanted it, we wanted it, it was one entity that denied us from this. So let's add that fuel to the fire."

Thanks to Jack Sawyer's heroic game-sealing strip sack and fumble recovery, Ohio State downed Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns 28-14 in the Cotton Bowl.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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