UCF takes center stage on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show

As host of Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff,  Rob Stone has visited some premier college football environments.

He’s seen the iconic venues of Big Ten country such as the Horseshoe at Ohio State or the Big House at Michigan to the rolling hills surrounding West Virginia and the stockyards near TCU in the Big 12.

But the show has never been to the Sunshine State — until this week, when it will broadcast live from Memory Mall on the UCF campus. The Knights host Colorado at FBC Mortgage Stadium at 3:30 p.m.

“It’s about time we came to Florida,” Stone told the Orlando Sentinel this week. “It’s about time we get to promote some of these other brands in college football besides the typical ones we see every Saturday.

“There’s so much more to college football than just Ohio States, the Michigans, the Texas and Alabamas and the Floridas. You need to remember that all these other programs are part of this great fabric of college football, making it arguably the greatest sport on our planet.”

This is the second time UCF has hosted a nationally televised pregame show.

ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast live from campus as a precursor to the Knights’ top 25 matchup with Cincinnati on Nov. 17, 2018. UCF won 38-13 and eventually won its second straight American Athletic Conference title, earning a spot in the Fiesta Bowl.

Nearly six years later, UCF is in its second season in the Big 12.

Broadcasting from a new location allows the show to reach a new audience.

Step aside, Deion, this is UCF’s ‘Primetime’ moment | Commentary

“It’s always good for us to get to a new location and spread our gospel,” said Stone. “We’re still kind of infants in this game, and we like getting out and seeing new places.”

The two-hour show, which airs from 10 a.m.-noon, has been on the air for six seasons and features a college experts panel of Matt Leinart (USC), Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), Mark Ingram (Alabama) and Urban Meyer (Utah, Florida and Ohio State).

All three have deep ties to the game, with Leinart, Ingram, and Meyer having won a collective five national championships and two Heisman Trophies.

“It’s super humbling for me and the ego gets packed away,” Stone said of his castmates. “There is no ego on the set when you’re surrounded by national title winners Heisman Trophy winners, Mr. Notre Dame Brady Quinn. They’re all down-to-earth guys who love what they do and adore the sport.”

Reporters Bruce Feldman and Tom Rinaldi, and wagering expert Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica provide additional coverage.

With the game against Colorado already sold out, a large crowd is expected to pack Memory Mall to catch the show. Grammy-winning musician DJ Khaled also will perform to add to the excitement.

“Let’s be honest. This is a two-hour commercial for UCF and the Big 12 and to a lesser point, Colorado as well,” said Stone.

The idea of UCF possibly hosting the show began a few weeks ago but was finalized after Colorado’s overtime win over Baylor. According to Rob Mikulicka, Fox’s director of remote studio operations, Orlando was among a handful of locations considered.

Mikulicka even spent time on campus last week, scouting possible locations to set up and meeting with school officials. Once it was determined that UCF would be the site, he was on a plane to Orlando on Monday morning.

“We were pinching ourselves and saying, ‘Can you believe we’re in Florida?’ We never thought we’d be able to do that,” said Mikulicka.

If UCF can ‘seize the moment’ on national stage vs. Colorado, that can pay dividends with recruits, too

This is the farthest south that the show has traveled.

Mikulicka and a crew of approximately 135 people began setting up the studio site while monitoring the path of an oncoming hurricane.

“Pivoting is a keyword for Big Noon Kickoff, but definitely, a hurricane was a new one,” said Mikulicka. “We went back to the drawing board of our plan and said what we could do safely up until the end of last night.”

Mikulicka spent time with the local weather center to gauge the storm’s impact.

While Central Florida wasn’t in Hurricane Helene’s direct path, increasing rain and wind gusts forced the crew to postpone work Thursday.

“We’ve dealt with weather. In week one, in Morgantown [West Virginia], we had about 50 to 60 mile-an-hour wind gusts that would pop up out of nowhere,” said Mikulicka. “So, on five minutes’ notice, we had to batten down the hatches. We have a lot of stuff, so we must ensure we’re safe.”

Weather aside, everyone associated with the show is expected to be a big crowd.

“They told me there are 8,000-10,000 fans [in Memory Mall] on gameday,” said Mikulicka. “We went back and watched [ESPN’s College GameDay], a previous show here, and the energy was insane. The 70,000 students are a huge bonus, and they don’t do these types of things often. So, we thought this would be the perfect place to step outside our normal playbook.”

Stone also sees Saturday’s show as the perfect opportunity for UCF to steal some of the spotlight from the state’s three big programs: Florida, Florida State and Miami.

“They’ve got a national two-hour pregame show coming to their town where their staff, university and student base can show off everything they have. I guarantee you that’s going to earn them a couple of recruits that will earn them some wins down the [line] and it might earn them a win on Saturday.”

Matt Murschel can be reached at moc.lenitnesodnalro@lehcsrumm

Up next …

UCF vs. Colorado

3:30 p.m., Saturday, FBC Mortgage

TV: WOFL-35