The 3-2-1: Nebraska’s projected 400th consecutive sellout gets a Friday night stage to shine on

With the announcement that Nebraska’s game with Illinois has been moved to Friday, Sept. 20, Memorial Stadium’s projected 400th sellout will have a new stage to shine on.

In this week’s 3-2-1 column, we hit on that and more with three things we learned, two questions, and one prediction.

RELATED – Nebraska will host its first Friday night home game, vs. Illinois, on Sept. 20

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED THIS WEEK

1 – Nebraska’s projected 400th consecutive sellout will be played on a Friday night

So many people look at Nebraska’s Sept. 20 Friday night game against Illinois in Lincoln as a disappointment because of the challenges it might provide with fans getting to Lincoln, along with the disruption it causes to the local high school football scene.

The game will also be Nebraska’s 400th consecutive sellout in Memorial Stadium. This is a historic day, as it takes roughly 14 to 15 seasons to achieve every 100 sellouts. Sure, you would like a game like this to be on a traditional Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff.

However, hear me out. Nebraska should look at this as a great opportunity to showcase its program on FOX. If this game weren’t played on a Friday night, the odds are that it would be buried on the BTN or FS1 at 11 a.m. and pulled a fraction of the TV rating.

Taking the 400th consecutive sellout game and moving it to a Friday night on FOX gives Nebraska an exclusive window to showcase this historical moment.

If I were Nebraska, I’d pull out all the stops. Fireworks and a drone show to commemorate 400 sellouts. It’s a no-brainer.

How about taking it a step further? Throw a post-game concert in Memorial Stadium to celebrate 400 sellouts. This is an historical day that has never happened in football, and NU has to take advantage of the national spotlight FOX will give it.

2 – Expect to learn the rest of the early kickoff times next week

We learned two of Nebraska’s 12 kickoffs this week. What about the rest of the early season kickoff times?

For all of you trying to plan weddings and family events around kickoff times, you shouldn’t have to wait too much longer. By next week, the Big Ten will release the first three weeks of kickoff times, homecoming kickoff times, and any other games pre-selected by network television partners.

The good news for Nebraska is that we could theoretically learn 10 of the 12 kickoff times for 2024 by next week. We’ll learn the first three weeks, the two Friday kickoff times, and the five dates Nebraska is involved in that are on a homecoming. Besides NU’s game with Rutgers in Lincoln, its trips to Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, and USC all fall on their perspective homecomings.

Wisconsin and UCLA are the only dates we won’t learn times for. Some homecoming games could have an 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. flex kickoff option. What intrigues me is USC. Looking back at past Trojan homecoming games, they have almost exclusively been played at night, a 4:30 p.m. local kickoff or 6:30 p.m. CT. The other thing to note is that Pac-12 had very few early afternoon kickoffs on its television package.

3 – NU’s 2025 projected class size remains fluid

On Wednesday, we held an extensive interview session with members of Nebraska’s recruiting and personnel department. One of the questions I asked Senior Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting Vince Guinta was about class size.

How does NU figure out its overall class size in the future, with things in place like the transfer portal and possible new roster limits? Guinta was very smart with his answer.

“What will be coming down the pipe with roster sizes? Who knows. It’s constantly changing,” Guinta said when talking about numbers and roster management. “We know over the next couple of years, we are going to be churning through upheaval. At the end, we are going to rely on our administration, who is outstanding. We are going to rely on great information that they provide and advice that they are giving us.

“We want to know the new rules, and we are going to stay on the cutting edge of it. To say what is a (class size) number we want to be at, I think that’s hard to say right now. I think ultimately if you do the majority of your visits in the summer, therefore you’d like to have a majority of your commits going along with that by the summer.”

TWO QUESTIONS THIS WEEK

1 – When was the last time Nebraska had a run of Elite 11 quarterbacks like this?

2025 Nebraska quarterback commit TJ Lateef was named to the 2024 Elite 11. Lateef was one of 20 quarterbacks selected for the prestigious event in Southern California from June 18-20. He becomes the third Husker quarterback to be selected for the Elite 11 over the last two years, joining current NU signal callers Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin .

When was the last time Nebraska had a run of QBs like this in the Elite 11, if ever? The closest would be from 2004 to 2007. The event only took 12 QBs back then, and Husker commits Harrison Beck (2004), Josh Freeman (2005) and Blaine Gabbert (2007) were all selected to the Elite 11.

Freeman ended up switching to K-State and Gabbert to Missouri. Both would be first-round draft picks out of Kansas City and St. Louis. Also, consider this: Gabbert would’ve been Nebraska’s starting quarterback, more than likely for the 2009 team with Ndamukong Suh . I can’t imagine what the 2009 Huskers would’ve looked like with a first-round draft pick under center.

2 – What are the future Big Ten media rights payouts for 2024 and beyond?

This week, It was announced that the 12 full-share Big Ten members received multimedia rights payouts of $60.5 million for the 2023 fiscal year. To put that number in perspective, Nebraska was paid $19.4 million during its final season as a Big 12 member in 2010. $9.255 million of that payout was withheld as a penalty for leaving the Big 12.

What do the future multimedia rights payouts look like for 2024 and beyond, with the Pac-12 schools now in the conference, along with a fat new TV deal? According to Sports Business Journal and other published reports, payments should be over $70 million for the 2024 fiscal year and top $100 million by the deal’s final year in 2029-2030.

Keep in mind that with changes to the College Football Playoff, there will also be a significant increase in payouts from that revenue stream. Currently, Power Five Conference schools receive $5.5 annually from the College Football Playoff . That number is expected to increase to $21 million for Big Ten and SEC schools starting in 2026. ACC schools will make $13 million annually, while Big 12 schools will receive $12 million from the new CFP deal.

ONE PREDICTION: Three of the first four games will be night kickoffs

We know two of Nebraska’s first four games will be aired on FOX and NBC at night. Might we see another early season primetime kick?

I predict we will, as the UTEP game makes a ton of sense to be aired at night. Today, I feel that would be NU’s preference as long as FS1 or one of the other networks does not want it for one of its selected windows. If they pass on the pick, Nebraska will be given some preference for kickoff time.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and is heard daily at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall, and each week, he appears on Nebraska Public Media’s Big Red Wrap-Up Tuesdays at 7 pm .

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