Kansas-Illinois game moved to Friday night in primetime on ESPN2

While the Big Ten schedule reveal for 2024 and 2025 dominated headlines on Thursday afternoon, a non-conference scheduling change for Kansas and Illinois snuck under the radar a little bit.

The two programs announced that ESPN has selected the Kansas-Illinois matchup to move from Sept. 9 to Sept. 8, a Friday. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET in Lawrence, Kan., with a broadcast on ESPN2.

As a result of that move, Kansas has also decided to move its season opener to Friday night. Kansas will now host Missouri State on Friday, Sept. 1 with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff, with the broadcast to be on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

“This is an incredible opportunity for Kansas Football to be featured on primetime,” Kansas athletics director Travis Goff said. “We look forward to showcasing a program on an unrivaled trajectory to a national audience against a high-quality opponent. This is a testament to a new era of KU Football and a group of young men and coaching staff who have worked tirelessly to restore pride and belief in this program.

“We expect this will be a highly viewed early season game and an outstanding sell-out environment at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.”

Because of the change in dates for Kansas’ season opener the week before the Illinois game, the Jayhawks will have an extra day of preparation over the Fighting Illinois. Illinois’ season opener is set for Saturday, Sept. 2 against Toledo.

Both the Kansas and Illinois programs are coming off excellent 2022 campaigns.

Kansas hit six wins and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2008, though a strong early season start was thrown off track by an injury to starting quarterback Jalon Daniels. Still, the Jayhawks are on a very positive trajectory under coach Lance Leipold.

Illinois, meanwhile, had a similarly successful second season under its coach, Bret Bielema. Illinois won eight games, though like Kansas it was a season that took a slide in the second half, with the Fighting Illini losing four of their final five games.

The Kansas-Illinois matchup has been played five times previously, though the last meeting was in 1968. Illinois currently leads the series 3-2.

The first game between the two programs was played all the way back in 1892, with Kansas beating Illinois 26-4.