Gus Johnson will not call Ohio State’s noon game against Northwestern on November 14. FOX shifted Johnson and Joel Klatt to Utah vs. Arizona after travel disruptions changed the network’s plans, leaving Connor Onion, Robert Griffin III and Alexa Landestoy on the Buckeyes’ broadcast.
Dan Hope breaks the switch
Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors broke the news on X Saturday morning, a useful early signal for Ohio State fans who expected to hear the network’s usual marquee booth at Ohio Stadium. Instead, Fox’s lead pairing is headed to Tucson, where Johnson and Klatt will handle No. 2 Utah against No. 23 Arizona.
That assignment gives FOX its established play-by-play and analyst duo on a game that moved from 5:30 p.m. MT to 8:30 p.m. MT after Utah could not travel to Tucson as planned on Friday. Utah entered the weekend at 9-0, while Arizona was 7-2, so the late reshuffle kept the network on a matchup with real stakes.
FAA ground stop reshuffle
The switch traces back to the nationwide FAA ground stop, which had already thrown college football travel schedules into disarray. The Big 12 Conference said, “Due to the national FAA ground stop impacting team travel, the Big 12 Conference is evaluating potential changes to Saturday’s football schedule,” on Friday, and the University of Utah said the delay stemmed from that stoppage and the resulting travel problems.
Johnson, Klatt and Jenny Taft had already traveled to Tucson to work Utah vs. Arizona, so FOX kept them on that assignment rather than pulling them back to Ohio Stadium. That left the Buckeyes’ broadcast to Onion on play-by-play, Griffin III on analysis and Landestoy on the sideline, even though Ohio State’s kickoff did not change.
Ohio State on a different booth
The awkward part for FOX is simple: its top college football crew was unavailable for Ohio State’s game even though the Buckeyes were still set for noon on November 14. For viewers, the change is immediate and practical — the voice in the booth and the sideline report will be different, but the start time at Ohio Stadium stays fixed.
That is the cleanest read on the schedule: FOX prioritized the game already in motion on the travel side and left Ohio State with a different broadcast team. The result is a rare booth change for a network that usually saves Johnson and Klatt for its biggest windows, and a reminder that live sports production still bends to flight problems before it bends to brand value.
