Report: Reggie Bush likely out at Fox Sports, Mark Ingram II considering Big Noon Kickoff opportunity
Out with one former Heisman-winning running back and in with another. That might be the play for Fox Sports as it eyes a staff shakeup for its “Big Noon Kickoff” show — a rival to ESPN’s College GameDay.
Current analyst and former USC star Reggie Bush is reportedly on the outs due to a contract dispute, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. As a replacement, Fox Sports is reportedly eying Mark Ingram, the former Alabama running back.
Ingram, who is still technically an active NFL player, would apparently retire from the league to pick up his broadcasting duties, per the Post.
And on top of both Bush and Ingram winning the Heisman trophy as running backs — in 2005 and 2010, respectively — both running backs played extensively for the New Orleans Saints during their NFL careers.
According to the report from the Post, the money issues first arose with Bush last year and Fox Sports kicked the tires on poaching talent from ESPN, such as Desmond Howard or Robert Griffin III.
But for now it seems Fox Sports will eschew Bush for the newly-retired Ingram sometime in the near future to serve on the “Big Noon Kickoff” desk.
Where ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ heads to in the near future could shake up
The Big Ten is adding USC and UCLA to the league ahead of the 2024 football season, meaning the “Big Noon Kickoff” crew is likely to be previewing some matchups outside the Coliseum or Rose Bowl.
On Thursday, a number of Big Ten matchups for the 2024 season were leaked ahead of the full schedule release.
Action Network’s Brett McMurphy has reported a number of matchups that are expected to be in the Big Ten’s conference schedule come 2024. The official schedule model release will be on Big Ten Network at 4:30 p.m. EST.
2024 is the first season that USC and UCLA will be in the league, and both schools have pulled some name-brand opponents.
Big Ten conference games on the 2024 schedule, according to McMurphy, include:
- Michigan at USC
- Ohio State at USC
- Wisconsin at Michigan
- Iowa at USC
- UCLA at Michigan
- Wisconsin at USC
- Nebraska at UCLA
- Iowa at Ohio State
- USC at Penn State
- UCLA at Iowa
The big news are the trips to Los Angeles for regular-season games, and vice versa. And a difficult welcome to the league for UCLA and USC. Both squads face Ohio State and Michigan and the Trojans also have a trip to Happy Valley to play Penn State, to boot.