BIG TEN NETWORK ANNOUNCES TV SCHEDULE

The Big Ten Network today announced its football telecast schedule for the first part of the season.

As we’ve known, Penn State’s opener vs. Youngstown State on Sept. 4 is slated for the network. Kickoff is at noon at Beaver Stadium. Probably two other Penn State games will be televised on the network.

Here are the other Penn State games in which the television coverage is known (or sort-of known):

Sept. 11: At Alabama, 7 p.m. (ESPN)

Sept. 18: Kent State, noon (ESPN or ESPN2)

Oct. 2: At Iowa, 8 p.m. (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)

Oct. 9: Illinois, noon (Big Ten Network, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)

Oct. 30: Michigan, 8 p.m. (ABC, ESPN or ESPN2)

Below is the Big Ten Network schedule through Sept. 18. The Big Ten Network games are hardly challenging for Big Ten teams. They've got Division I-AA foes and all of the directional schools covered (Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern). I'm just wondering how France didn't make it onto the schedule:

Sept. 2, 7:30 p.m., Marshall at Ohio State

Sept. 2, 7:30 p.m., Towson at Indiana

Sept. 4

Noon, Youngstown State at Penn State

Noon, Eastern Illinois at Iowa

Sept. 11

Noon, South Dakota at Minnesota

Noon, Western Illinois at Purdue

Noon, Illinois State at Northwestern

7:30 p.m., Southern Illinois at Illinois

Sept. 18

Noon, Ohio at Ohio State

Noon, Massachusetts at Michigan

Noon, Ball State at Purdue

Noon, Northern Illinois at Illinois

5 p.m., Indiana at Western Kentucky

FROM THE MORNING CALL