CHICAGO - When the news was officially announced that the Big Ten Conference would begin experimenting with Friday night football games starting in 2017, the reaction from around the league was a mixed bag, to say the least.
Some schools jumped at the opportunity to be showcased as one of the only Power Five teams playing on their own night on national television.
Others brisket at the idea of playing a game on any other day than Saturday, with some league powers like Michigan and Penn State flat out refusing to alter their normal schedules.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany admitted the league has received its share of complaints and criticism since debuting the idea for Friday night games, not only from member schools, but from high school athletic associations worried the change would hurt the game at the prep level.
“I think it's fair to say there's been pushback,” Delany said. “It led us to open up even more communication with the high school directors."
Nebraska and its fans were somewhat caught in the middle of those two reactions. The Huskers, of course, will be part of the first Friday night conference game when they travel to take on Illinois on Sept. 29.
Athletic director Shawn Eichorst publicly embraced the move, but many others around the state - particularly those with vested interests in the state’s high school football - were strongly opposed to taking the spotlight away from Nebraska high schools.
Nebraska’s Friday night opponent, however, has had little to no issue with the situation.
“The feedback was OK,” Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said. “We were certainly concerned about trying to protect the Friday night tradition of high school football, but I think our state is a little bit different in that we’ve had a number of high schools play games on Saturday for a long time, so I think that muddied the water a bit.
“Then as we communicated with the high schools I think they understood we were going to do this on a very limited basis and they saw it for what it is, which is a great opportunity for us to get some national exposure for Illinois football.”
Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith agreed, saying that while he had sympathy for high schools wanting to maintain their claim of Friday nights, the opportunity for his program to get that type of branding was a major benefit.
“I understand Friday nights have been reserved for high school football, and believe me, I love high school football,” Smith said. “I think there’s enough football to go around for all of us.
“To have an occasional game under the lights is big for our program. We are excited about it, and it’s not like we signed a 20-year contract. We are going to see how it goes.
“I think people will find out there’s enough for everyone, and it won’t interfere that much with our high school football. There’s something about when you go to the NFL, there’s Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football. Friday Night Football for us will hopefully be exciting also.”
Delany said one potential solution to easing the burden on high school programs would be for the Big Ten to announce their Friday game schedules as early as possible. He said some games could be announced as early as the October before the start of the following season.
“It’s an opportunity for our teams to get into a window,” Delaney said. “I know there is a sensitivity to it, and I’m conscious of that. We didn’t expect there to be the reaction there is, but we are going to work with them as much as possible to mitigate it.”
