Ohio State-Cal to be played at 7 p.m. ET on FOX

After ABC/ESPN laid claim to the rights to Tennessee and new head coach Butch Jones' trip to Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon September 14th to take on the Oregon Ducks, conventional wisdom was that this opened the doors for FOX, which is going into its second year carrying a full slate of college football, to pick up Ohio State's return trip to Cal to complete last year's opening leg of a home-and-home series. We now have confirmation that will in fact be the case.

Per Ohio State and FOX, the Buckeyes will be taking on first year head coach Sonny Dykes and the California Golden Bears Saturday, September 14th at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. Pacific) at the newly remodeled Memorial Stadium on Fox (Channel 1008 HD on Time Warner Cable). The Buckeyes and Golden Bears have met seven times previously with Ohio State responsible for a 6-1 edge against Cal.

During last year's game, Ohio State faced an unexpectedly close test as Urban Meyer's Bucks pulled out a 35-28 victory. Braxton Miller found Devin Smith for a 72-yard score with 3:26 to play to give Ohio State the winning score. Though it's tough to say how quickly the Bears will find their footing in a new offensive scheme, Cal should have some weapons to potentially keep things interesting in Ohio State's lone closest thing to a marquee non-conference game this season.