Kansas Football Moves its Game With Illinois to Friday Night
The Kansas Jayhawks will play its game against Illinois on a Friday night on ESPN2, the school announced on Thursday.
The game with the Illini, which will be at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, was originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9. Now, the game will be on Friday, Sept. 8.
It marks the first prime-time weekday game the Jayhawks will play on an ESPN platform since 1995.
Kickoff will be at 6:30 p.m. central.
Kansas will also play its home opener against Missouri State on Friday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. on ESPN Plus/Big 12 Now.
“We are excited to play a home game in primetime on a night where our players will be seen by a national audience,” Kansas head coach Lance Leipold said via a press release.
The last time the Jayhawks played a prime-time game on a weeknight it was against current Big 12 rival TCU, a game Kansas won, 38-20.
Kansas is coming off its best season in more than a decade. In Leipold’s second year as coach, the Jayhawks won six games, but got off to a 5-0 start, hosted ESPN Gameday for the first time and went to a bowl game for the first time since 2008.
The rest of Kansas’ schedule remains the same, with the Jayhawks making their first road trip of the season on Sept. 16 at Nevada.
After that, the Jayhawks host BYU in their Big 12 home opener on Sept. 23 before going to Texas for its first Big 12 road game on Sept. 30.
In October, Kansas hosts UCF on Oct. 7, travels to Oklahoma State on Oct. 14 and hosts Oklahoma on Oct. 28
In November, Kansas travels to Iowa State on Nov. 4, hosts Texas Tech on Nov. 11, hosts Kansas State on Nov. 18 and travels to Cincinnati on Nov. 25.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
