photo by: Chance Parker/Journal-World photo

The Kansas football team huddles before practice at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

In what Kansas Athletics is touting as the school’s first weeknight ESPN football game in 28 years, KU will face Illinois at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8 on ESPN2, the school announced Thursday.

“We look forward to showcasing a program on an unrivaled trajectory to a national audience against a high-quality opponent,” KU athletic director Travis Goff said in a news release. “This is a testament to a new era of KU Football and a group of young men and coaching staff who have worked tirelessly to restore pride and belief in this program. We expect this will be a highly viewed early season game and an outstanding sell-out environment at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.”

As Kansas improved in 2022, Illinois had a turnaround season of its own under coach Bret Bielema, going 8-5 (5-4 in the Big Ten Conference) and reaching the ReliaQuest Bowl.

“It shouldn’t be any surprise that we haven’t gotten very many phone calls, invites to be on prime time, over many a year, quite frankly,” Goff said on a Zoom call with reporters Thursday afternoon. “And the young men in that program deserve a chance to play in front of what is really three, four, five, six, potentially ‘X’ times the eyeballs they’re going to get on a Week 2 Saturday.”

In a corresponding move, Kansas moved its season opener against Missouri State from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1; that game is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Goff said that KU had to evaluate its options but determined the move was necessary to get the Illinois game in prime time.

“We apologize to those fans that that certainly will impact, and does impact to some extent,” Goff said. “We hope there’s enough runway and advance notice for people to adapt to the shift to Friday.”

The Big 12 Conference previously revealed that KU will travel to Nevada for a 9:30 p.m. Central Time kickoff on Sept. 16. All other game times are still pending.