The FOX Big Noon Kickoff show is coming to Evanston! Yes, the #4 Oregon Ducks will visit the Northwestern Wildcats, and FOX’s answer to ESPN College Gameday, which a lot of people like to call “Big NUDE Kickoff” will be there. It will be Ducks on the lake at Northwestern’s temporary lakeside venue, Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. So why did Big Noon (or Nude) Kickoff select a game that’s expected to be a total rout?
After all, the Ducks opened as -27.5-point road favorites against the Wildcats.
NORTHWESTERN WE’RE COMING TO YOUR CITY 🔥🐾
Big Noon Kickoff will be bringing the party to Evanston, IL ahead of @NUFBFamily‘s matchup with @oregonfootball at 12 ET on FOX 🎉 pic.twitter.com/2qi4qQVdsC
— Big Noon Kickoff (@BNKonFOX) September 7, 2025
Northwestern Wildcats vs #4 Oregon Ducks
Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium | Evanston, Illinois
Kickoff: Sat. Sept 13, 11am cst (or 9am for the West Coasters!)
TV: FOX (Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Jenny Taft)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Dave Eanet, Ted Albrecht, Jake Saunders)
And when you look at how the new sportsbooks have altered their lines throughout the week, it’s now Oregon Ducks -28 or more. And their moneyline odds are lopsided as well, currently set at -1-000, compared to +2000 for Northwestern. The over/under for this week is set at 50.5, which seems a tad low considering Oregon scored 59 in the season opener, and then 69 last week, all by themselves.
So while this game is projected to be rout, FOX just didn’t have many other superior options to select from this week.
Northwestern’s Temporary Stadium pic.twitter.com/Pd7d8Yq66b
— kwade (@KwadeSays) July 25, 2024
Northwestern head coach David Braun fielded a question about the big pregame show coming to his backyard.
“During the week, it’s something you’re trying to block out,” he said at his weekly presser. You’re just trying to focus on what you can control today.
“It’s also really important to acknowledge, this is exciting. This is why you play in the Big Ten. Big Noon Kickoff coming to campus.
“The students are back. We need Wildside at a whole other level. The lakefront needs to be packed with purple. We need to create a home field advantage. It may be a smaller venue, but it can still be an incredible advantage for the ‘Cats. These are days that you dream of when play college football.
“I think it’s really important that we tune that out during the week, acknowledge it on Saturday, take a moment to take it and say, ‘Yeah, this is awesome,’ and then focus on executing.”
This game could set some sort of unofficial record for smallest crowd to ever watch such a highly ranked team.
NU’s lakeside facility reduced capacity for second and final season that football will be played here, meaning that this national powerhouse, who spent most of last season ranked #1, will play in front of about 12,000 fans.
Is that the smallest crowd ever to see a team ranked #4 in the modern era of football? Or since polling began in 1936?
#4 Oregon Ducks (2-0) Preview
The quack attack has outscored their opponents by a whopping 112 combined points through the first two weeks of the young season, and it’s easy to see why. At every position, they have top level speed and elite athleticism, all up and down the depth chart.
Let’s start with quarterback Dante Moore, who we profiled (along with his running back corps) at USA Today Draft Wire.
As we wrote on Sunday, Moore “was considered by some to be the top quarterback in his recruiting class, and he flipped his commitment from Oregon to UCLA in 2022. After one season at UCLA, he transferred to Oregon, ultimately making the same decision that he initially made.
He now his true chance this season now that historically good quarterback Dillon Gabriel is with the Cleveland Browns.”
Moore also has the ability to hand off to one of three running backs who are currently averaging “a first down and more,” to quote the shopworn cliche. Noah Whittington (14 carries, 159 yards, 11.4 ypc), Jayden Limar (9 carries, 107 11.9 ypc) and Dierre Hill Jr. (6 carries, 67 yards, 11.2 yards per carry) all average well over 11-yards-per-carry.
“The things that really stand out offensively — I just think they’re really well thought out,” Braun said.
“They allow their guys to play fast. They vary their tempos. They find ways to create a ton of explosive plays. They start fast. And that’s been something that’s been very consistent throughout Coach Lanning’s time.”
NFL Draft Stock Report Oregon Ducks
The running back position is filled with future NFL players, but so is the rest of the squad. This Ducks team has as many NFL Draft prospects as any team in the nation. And at Draft Wire, we profiled the four guys who could all go in the first round come April: OT Isaiah World, S and Purdue transfer Dillon Thieneman, TE Kenyon Sadiq and EDGE Matayo Uiagalelei.
We asked Braun about this foursome, and he responded:
“Both edges are extremely talented. With those guys, you can’t pay attention to the stat line. Just turn on the film. I believe it was last week, I think [Uigalelei] had a two-sack game. [Sadiq,] they do such a good job of putting him at different spots. Like, it’s so easy to say, ‘oh, they’re talented’ You watch [Sadiq] block. He finishes and he’s physical.
“You can tell these guys are well coached, and they bought in. You mentioned [World]. Very impressed. If we were to rewind to last January and say, ‘where’s Oregon and be at next year?‘ you’d say ‘the O line is something that they’re going to have to address.‘ And they have.
“They really have impressed with that group and the continuity that they’re playing with.
“We’re familiar with [Thieneman.] Really good player and super instinctual. Grant O’Brien, who’s on staff with us now, actually coached Dillon at Purdue. Not only really good football player, but just is all about about all the right things. Oregon’s lucky to have him.”
Northwestern Wildcats (1-1) Preview
Star running back Cam Porter has suffered a season ending injury. Unless he applies for and receives a NCAA medical hardship waiver, his career is done. Braun announced Porter’s unfortunate situation at the weekly presser yesterday. He admitted that the whole team was crushed by this development.
“There’s no one that’s worked harder,” Braun said of Porter.
“There’s no one that’s invested more in this program than Cam Porter. The thing that I’ll also say is there’s no one more suited and prepared to still have a profound impact on their team with these types of circumstances than Cam Porter. One thing that I’ve learned about Cam is he understands that his purpose is bigger than football. He’s a man that walks by faith and it’s not just some cliche post or tatto that he wears on his arm. I learned from Cam Porter daily.
“Every single room that he steps into, the people in that room are better because Cam’s in it. He was in meetings this morning. He’ll continue to be in meetings.
“He will continue that with profound impact on this football program.”
Moving forward, Caleb Komolafe and Joe Himon II will be taking on much bigger roles in the running game. And wide receiver Griffin Wilde, who has some NFL Draft stock himself, will now become the Cats’ top offensive weapon.
Quarterback Preston Stone will lean on him heavily now.
Northwestern edge Anto Saka is considered by many to be a first round prospect, but he’s not truly an every down player yet, and with that, he hasn’t racked up any real stats yet.
OT Caleb Tiernan could be in the mix to become a first round pick too.
So that will make for an intriguing matchup against Oregon’s vaunted edges.
Prediction: Oregon Ducks 49, Northwestern 10
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter