Friday Nights in the Fall Should be Reserved for High School Football

It is Friday Night Lights in Lubbock, Texas, this week with some of the top teams in action: Liberty vs. West Plains, Lubbock Christian vs. Bushland, Monahans vs. Shallowater, Big Spring vs. Estacado and Texas Tech vs. Houston. 

Yes, that’s correct, Texas Tech vs. Houston. While some of Lubbock’s top-ranked high school teams noted above will be kicking off at 7 p.m. local time Friday night, an early-season Big 12 Conference matchup between undefeated and top 25-ranked Texas Tech and Houston will commence at the same time at Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock in the high school football hotbed of Texas – and the game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports.

Meanwhile, at about the same time Friday night, another major college football game is set to invade the night traditionally set for high school football. Wake Forest and Miami – both off to 2-0 starts – will be opening the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) season in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – in direct competition to a host of Friday night high school games in that part of the state. And that game is also televised nationally on ESPN.

These are just two of more than 65 major college football games that have been scheduled on Friday nights this year, with the Big 12, Big 10 and ACC conferences leading the way. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is the only Power 4 Conference that has not scheduled conference games on Friday nights this season.

While we applaud the SEC’s stance, the NFHS and its member state associations are opposed to any college games on Friday nights. In addition, high school coaches, administrators and fans are opposed. And, in many cases, the college teams and their fans are not pleased with having to play on Friday nights.

Cody Campbell, chairman of the Texas Tech University Board of Regents and a former Texas Tech player, voiced displeasure when it was announced the Texas Tech-Houston game was being moved to Friday night. In an article in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Campbell said, “Friday Night Lights are sacred in the Great State of Texas.”

Texas Tech Coach Joey McGuire, in an article on Fox34.com, noted that it “feels weird to host a Friday night game while hundreds of high school teams are playing all over the country. . . “

The following Friday on September 25, the reigning national champions Indiana University Hoosiers will be hosting Northwestern University in a Big Ten Conference game in Bloomington, which also will be televised nationally on Fox. In addition to the Bloomington high schools that are adversely affected by this decision, many Indianapolis-area high schools – and their fans – are faced with difficult decisions – ones they should not have to make.

Two-time defending Indiana High School Athletic Association Class 6A champion Brownsburg High School will be hosting Westfield High School in a rematch of last year’s championship game. This game should be played without interference of a major college game being played at the exact same time an hour to the south.

Throughout the rest of the regular season, there are two to three major college games involving ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten teams every Friday night – many of which are televised on Fox and ESPN. While it may not seem like a lot, the communities hosting these games are adversely affected, and there is a sense that “something is just not right” when college football games are played on Friday nights.

Dating back as far as the early 1960s, there have been agreements to preserve Friday nights for high school football. It frankly helps every level of the game to keep it that way.

In 2017, the NFHS and its member state associations adopted a resolution regarding Friday night high school football. A portion of that resolution stated that “college and professional football teams should refrain from scheduling contests on Friday nights. Such restraint would be an investment in their own future success. It would also demonstrate that high school football has value well beyond the field of play. Schools, communities and scholastic teams for girls and boys all benefit when football is strong.” 

Simply put, Friday nights should be reserved for communities to congregate at the local high school team’s football game and support the school’s student-athletes – PERIOD. The NFHS and its member state associations urge all major college conferences and the national television networks to refrain from moving college football games to Friday nights in the future.

Republishing Notice: This article may be republished by media outlets. If republished, please credit Davis Whitfield as the author and The NFHS Report as the original source.

Davis Whitfield began his tenure on August 1, 2026, as executive director of the NFHS, the national leader and advocate for high school sports and performing arts programs based in Indianapolis. He was chief operating officer of the NFHS for 11 years prior to his promotion to the executive direction position. Prior to joining the NFHS staff in 2015, Whitfield was commissioner of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) for five years. He began his career in sports administration in 1995 at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, where he was assistant athletic director for operations and facilities for three years. He then served in the athletic department at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, including two years as director of operations and facilities management and two years as assistant athletic director for operations and facilities. Prior to joining the NHSAA staff, Whitfield was on the administrative staff of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for 7½ years, including the final 2½ years as associate commissioner.