Ohio State vs Northwestern Preview Friday Night Game

Ohio State will play a rare non-Saturday game this week when they travel to Evanston to face Northwestern.

It will be the first time the Buckeyes have played a regular season game on a week night since the season opener at Indiana on a Thursday in 2017.

It’s also the first Friday regular season game for Ohio State since 1959.

Both teams are coming off an idle week. The Buckeyes are 6-0, 2-0 in Big Ten play. Northwestern is 1-4 overall, and 0-3 in conference. The Cats’ only win of the year came against lowly UNLV.

Ohio State has not played in Evanston since the 2013 season. The last meeting between the teams was the 2018 Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis, which the Buckeyes won, 45-24.

Northwestern is 1-31 against the Bucks since 1971, with their only win coming in 2004.

Ohio State leads the series 62-14-1 all-time.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch the Buckeyes and Wildcats.

Kickoff Time

The game kicks off Friday, October 18 at 8:30 pm Eastern.

TV & Streaming

As of Wednesday afternoon, the TV network for the game is somewhat in flux.

It was originally scheduled for FS1, but a rainout in the American League Championship Series means that the Yankees and Astros are taking that spot.

The game will now appear on Big Ten Network.

You can stream it via FoxSports.com or the FoxSportsGo app. Joe Davis, Brock Huard, and Bruce Feldman are on the call.

Radio

The game will be carried live on the Ohio State Football Radio Network. Find your local Ohio State Football radio station here.

Weather

Friday night may not be the tradition time to watch a college football game, but if you’re going to be there, get ready for absolutely perfect college football weather.

The high for Friday is projected at just 60 with a zero percent chance of rain and winds around 10-15 MPH.

The temperature should be somewhere in the mid-to-high 50s by kickoff time.

You can find an updated weekend forecast for the Evanston area here.

Point Spread

The Buckeyes are a 27.5-point favorite against the Wildcats. The Over/Under for the game is 48.5.

That line opened at 25.5 and was almost instantly bet up by a couple of points.

If you want to combine those numbers, that means Vegas is expecting something in the neighborhood of a 38-10 win for Ohio State.

Tickets

Virtually every Ohio State trip to Northwestern has a few things in common. One is that at least half of the people inside the stadium will be Buckeye fans.

The other is that, yes, tickets are available. The game itself is sold out, but there is a ton of inventory on the secondary market as Northwestern fans try to cover the cost of most of their season tickets in one day.

Like OSU, Northwestern sells their tickets through Ticketmaster, and the resale market and direct purchase market are blended together. This week, that link has intermittently worked and then returned a “Tickets for this event are currently not available on Ticketmaster” message.

If you can’t get that to work, secondary outlets like StubHub are another option.

The get-in price is around $75, and will probably drop as game day approaches.

You can sit between the 40s in the lower deck starting at prices around $130.

If you haven’t been to Ryan Field before, it’s one of the smallest venues in major-conference football, and the view from most seats is pretty good.

You can find a Ryan Field seating chart here.

Gates at Ryan Field will open at 5:30 pm, two hours prior to kickoff. That is 30 minutes earlier than a normal Northwestern home game to accommodate the large number of visiting fans.

Ryan Field Bag Policy

You may bring one (1) clear bag into Ryan Field.

From the Northwestern website: Each ticket holder can bring in one large clear bag, either a one gallon Ziploc-style bag or the 12” by 6″ by 12″ clear bag, plus a small clutch no bigger than 4.5″ by 6.5″. The larger clear bag must be a standard 12″ by 6″ by 12″ bag made of clear PVC vinyl and easily searchable.

You can find the full bag policy here.

Parking

There’s no use beating around the bush: parking at a Northwestern game can be a flaming pain in the butt. That’s going to be doubly true for a Friday evening game.

Northwestern is holding classes as normal on Friday, and will continue to enforce their normal weekday parking policies until 4:00 pm on Friday.

After 4:00 pm, parking will be available.

From the Northwestern website: Free day-of-game parking can be found on the Northwestern campus, after 4 p.m. A campus map can be found here. Day-of-game parking also is available at the Canal Shores Golf Course at the East Golf Lot. The lot entrance is located off Isabella Street just west of Girard Avenue and just east of the canal on the south side of the street. This lot will accommodate, on a first-come first-serve basis, persons looking for parking or tailgating, and opens at 3:30 p.m.

And just in case you missed it above, you can find a campus parking map, information on mass transit and more here. Just click on the topic you want to see more about, and it will expand.

If you are staying at a hotel downtown, the CTA’s Purple line or Metra’s UP-N line are both highly recommended.

PROTIP: If you are driving from Ohio, try to make it through Chicago by 3:00 pm at the latest. Yes, you will have tons of time to kill in Evanston, but sitting on the perpetually-jammed Chicago highway system on a Friday afternoon is going to make you question a lot of your life choices.

10 REASONS TO HATE NORTHWESTERN

By JL Kirven

10) TOUGH TO HATE

Not going to lie, Northwestern's a toughie. You don’t like them, but do you really hate them?

The Wildcats don’t cause grief like Michigan State or Penn State.

They’re not a hated rival like that team up North.

They’re kind of just another team in the Big Team that needs to get smacked in the mouth.

Nothing personal, it’s just business baby.

9) MEDILL

In the world of journalism, there’s a school that we all either love because we went there or hate because we didn’t. That school is the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

This school is considered the cream of the crop and every kid who’s graduated from there is heralded as the next Michael Wilbon, Mike Greenberg or Brent Musburger, all of whom are Medill alumnus.

I don’t go to Medill. I’ve never wanted to. I’m a proud J-student in the Scripps School of Journalism at The Ohio University, and we can craft a lede too.

So even though Medill beats us in Pulitzers and New York Times best sellers, their J-students have to cover Northwestern sports and that is nothing to brag about.

8) EVANSTON

When you think of Northwestern you think of Chicago, but you shouldn’t. The school is in Evanston.

Let's not pretend to be somebody we're not.

7) WILLIE THE WILDCAT

He’s kind of cute, but way too cute to be a mascot. This non-threatening pussycat looks more stuffed animal than ferocious feline.

I hope for his sake he never comes to blows with Brutus. Because Willie doesn’t want that problem.

6) LOYOLA RUNS CHICAGO

Northwestern has Willie, but Loyola has Sister Jean.

And also, double the number of NCAA Final Four appearances that the Wildcats even have tournament appearances.

Ohio State runs its state, Northwestern can’t even run its block.

5) QUARTER SYSTEM

I thought the quarter system was a thing of the past, but apparently Northwestern is still living in the stone age.

Most universities across these United States of America run on semesters these days, so it's kind of hilarious that such a prestigious academic institution like Northwestern wouldn't keep up, but maybe being pretentiously different is on brand.

4) THESE ABOMINATIONS

There are a lot of bad looks in the Big Ten, but these might be the worst.

Don't worry! You'll see them Friday night against the Buckeyes.

3) THE ONLY PRIVATE SCHOOL IN THE BIG TEN

College is already expensive enough but going to a private school is really going to empty your pockets.

While Northwestern is a fine university with a slightly overrated J-school, all the schools in the conference are just dandy. In the classroom that is.

Why Northwestern must be the pretentious kid in the Big Ten in beyond me.

2) PAT FITZGERALD WANTS TO SHAKE PEOPLE

Coach Pat Fitzgerald doesn’t like the youth on their phones.

So much so he wants to shake the habit out of them.

Keep your hands to yourself, Pat 

1) FRIDAYS ARE FOR THE KIDS

The main reason to hate the Wildcats is that the Buckeyes have to play them on a Friday this week. Even though we all love seeing the scarlet and gray play, this Friday night matchup throws off the football feng-shui.

Friday nights are for high school football. Sitting on ice cold bleachers with scorching hot chocolate in hand. Watching sons and daughters on the field represent their schools. Complaining to your neighbor about why the coach runs the same five plays a game and how great of a DB you were back in the day.

Well now this week just isn’t the same. Your attention is torn. While the band is performing its Disney-themed halftime show, you’ll be switching through apps trying to keep up with the score.