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(EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Notre Dame’s Extra Night Game Delivers Another Blow to Big Ten

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By Nick Shepkowski | Last updated May 13, 2025 12:03 PM ET

Notre Dame football's 2025 home schedule was officially released with gametimes on Monday, with slight changes from what was to be expected. Among those was the fact that Notre Dame will play three night games instead of the traditional two. The third comes against Navy on November 8.

That's noteworthy for a couple of reasons, but let's start with the Notre Dame side of things. Notre Dame and Navy have played annually for almost a century and will continue to do so going forward. For as much as Notre Dame has dominated the series (83-13-1), until relatively recently Navy has mostly been a rather mid-opponent (sorry, had to).

Navy is coming off a year that saw it start the year 6-0 before being routed by Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. With Navy returning the vast majority of its talent from a 10-3 squad that beat Oklahoma in the post-season, the Midshipmen figure to threaten for a College Football Playoff spot in 2025. With Notre Dame coming off a national championship game appearance, this figures to be a low-key big game, but compared to the usual 3:30 local time start for Notre Dame games, some added buzz will be in the air for this one.

Why Penn State and Indiana Fans Should Be Upset

Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

If I were a fan of Indiana or Penn State football, I'd be upset to learn of Notre Dame hosting Navy under the lights on NBC on November 8. How much that game matters to Penn State or Indiana's College Football Playoff chances remains to be seen, but NBC deciding to put the Irish and Midshipmen in primetime means that Penn State hosting Indiana almost certainly won't be.

Indiana and Penn State were both College Football Playoff teams last season and both figure to be in the running to make a return trip in 2025. Like we've seen with major Big Ten games in recent years however, this one becomes a prime candidate to get the Big Noon Kickoff on Fox.

I know the viewership numbers are very strong for Fox's biggest weekly matchup but that doesn't mean I have to like 12:00 p.m. ET starts. Ohio State night games have almost become an afterthought while last year Penn State had its top-five showdown with the Buckeyes played in the noon spot instead of the primetime spot it would have been guaranteed to be in a few years back.

Kegs and eggs is a great college football tradition and the Big Noon Kickoff certainly means an early start for fans. There is also something very special about huge games being played at night and that's simply something the Big Ten fans have had taken away from them in order for TV executives to cash huge checks.

As for Notre Dame, I'm making no apologies for getting the prime-time treatment if I'm Marcus Freeman. Anyone who can read can go look up why Notre Dame isn't actually in the Big Ten and fully understand why it never will be as a football team.

This is part of the reward of Notre Dame being a college football force last season and I would guess Freeman and his staff are in every recruits' ear about how Notre Dame actually plays its biggest games at under the lights, like you dream of as a kid, unlike almost every Big Ten team.

Then again, I'm guessing he or his staff already have been.

This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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