:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/15178083/20121103_ajw_sv4_239.0.jpg)
Via Tom Groeschen.
#UC-Purdue football opener will be at noon Saturday Aug. 31 at Nippert Stadium (ESPNU)
— Tom Groeschen (@TomGroeschen) June 21, 2013
#UC Game 2 at Illinois (Sept. 7) will be at noon, and Game 3 vs. Northwestern State (La.) on Sept. 14 at UC will be at 7 p.m. #bearcats
— Tom Groeschen (@TomGroeschen) June 21, 2013
The noon start is not ideal for the Bearcats, the UC administration has long prefered night games, and every game they can start at 7PM or later they will start at 7PM. But TV played a large part in this, obviously because the game is on ESPNU (cue this guy). Of course the Bearcats game against Illinois has already been optioned by ESPN and will appear on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. Call it a hunch, but a win to start the season gets that game on ESPN2, a loss and its back on the U. The Northwestern State game will be on ESPN3 at the least, it will probably be available on Fox Sports Ohio.