Fox's Big Noon Kickoff is setting up shop in Tucson this week, bringing its traveling pregame show to the desert ahead of No. 22 Arizona's showdown with No. 3 Utah. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. local time Saturday, ahead of Arizona's kickoff against the nation's third-ranked team.
According to tucson.com, Big Noon Kickoff is one of college football's top Saturday morning preview shows, and this week it's parked squarely in Wildcat territory. The game itself will kick off at 5:30 p.m. MST from Casino Del Sol Stadium with a national broadcast on FOX, according to University of Arizona Athletics. The matchup pits the 7-2 Wildcats against an opponent the program says is its highest-ranked home opponent since 2007.
Arizona's Climb and Utah's Perfect Season
Arizona enters at 7-2 after moving up three spots to No. 22 in the AP Top 25 following a 39-3 win over Iowa State, per tucson.com's earlier coverage. Utah arrives unbeaten at 9-0, fresh off a 28-20 win over ninth-ranked BYU in the Holy War, the same report notes. Utah is ranked No. 3 in the AP poll, while Arizona enters as a 1.5-point underdog in a game Arizona Athletics is billing as a stripe out at Casino Del Sol Stadium.
History offers Wildcat fans some hope. Arizona has won its last two meetings with Utah, including a 23-10 road victory in the programs' first official Big 12 matchup in 2024, according to tucson.com. Still, the broader trend has been rougher: Arizona is 2-7 against ranked opponents under coach Brent Brennan, including losses at BYU and Texas Tech this season, according to Arizona Desert Swarm.
Who's on the Big Noon Panel
Fox's 2026 lineup for Big Noon Kickoff includes host Rob Stone alongside analysts Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram, according to FOX Sports. Quinn played quarterback at Notre Dame and had a seven-year NFL career, while Leinart is a Heisman Trophy winner. Ingram is a Heisman Trophy winner and a 2026 College Football Hall of Fame inductee.
Meyer is a three-time national championship-winning head coach. FOX says the show will hit the road every Saturday in 2026, airing nationally at 10 a.m. ET and followed by Big Noon Saturday at noon ET on the network.
A Traveling Show With a Track Record
This isn't the crew's first visit to a Wildcats game. Big Noon Kickoff previously broadcast from Provo ahead of Arizona's game against 14th-ranked BYU, airing a two-hour show from 7 to 9 a.m. PT, per tucson.com's report at the time. The show has also made other stops this season, including a planned visit to West Point ahead of the Air Force-Army game, according to FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff schedule.
Elsewhere on the college football landscape this weekend, ESPN's College GameDay will be in Boise, Idaho, for the Oregon State-Boise State matchup. The College Football Playoff rankings are set to be released Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, while Miami's loss to Notre Dame on the road adds another wrinkle to an already chaotic national picture heading into the Arizona-Utah kickoff.
