''ESPN College Football Primetime'' is a live game presentation of NCAA
Football Bowl Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. In the past, the presenting sponsors have been
Polaroid
Polaroid may refer to:
* Polaroid Corporation, an American company known for its instant film and cameras
* Polaroid camera, a brand of instant camera formerly produced by Polaroid Corporation
* Polaroid film, instant film, and photographs
* Polar ...
,
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
PlayStation 5
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
. The game telecast airs every Saturday night at 7:45pm ET during the
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
Joey Galloway
Joseph Scott Galloway (born November 20, 1971) is an American former professional football player who is an analyst with ESPN. He was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Galloway was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with th ...
and
Jesse Palmer
Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, actor, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. ...
, all of whom also appear on the halftime report. This game telecast is also presented in high-definition on
ESPN HD
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...
.
History
Since debuting in 1979, it has broadcast games from numerous conferences including the ACC,
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
and the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
. In recent years, it has primarily featured the SEC as the second-choice game to CBS' national coverage earlier in the day. Games from the other conferences typically could air either on ESPN/ESPN2 or ABC, but the SEC does not offer such flexibility. This game is often seen as the
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
''Game of the Week'' along with the Thursday night telecast.
Some notable voices of ''ESPN College Football Primetime'' over the years have been
Ron Franklin
Ronald Franklin (February 2, 1942January 18, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was employed by ESPN from 1987 to 2011. He was fired by ESPN on January 4, 2011, after making sexist comments to a colleague.Mike Gottfried
Mike Gottfried (born December 17, 1944) is a sportscaster and former American football player and coach.
He served as the head football coach at Murray State University (1978–1980), the University of Cincinnati (1981–1982), the University of ...
and Adrian Karsten, but all have gone on to different assignments, except for Karsten, who died in 2005. Currently, the primary commentators for the ESPN version are
Sean McDonough
Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and WEEI Red Sox Radio Network.
Early life
The son of ''Boston Globe'' sportswriter Will McDonough, McDonough graduated from the S. I. Newhouse Sch ...
on
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
,
Todd Blackledge
Todd Alan Blackledge (born February 25, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in both the NCAA and National Football League. In college, he led the Penn State Nittany Lions to a national championship. A member of the famed Class of 19 ...
Chris Fowler
Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for ''Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he ho ...
Holly Rowe
Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster currently working for the sports television network ESPN. Rowe is best known as a sideline reporter for college football games which are telecast on ESPN. Rowe made Utah Jazz team ...
as field reporter, all of whom also serve as the primary commentating team for ABC's ''
Saturday Night Football
''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC'' (branded for sponsorship purposes as ''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC presented by Capital One'') is an American weekly presentation of prime time broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...
''.
On October 14, 2006, ''ESPN College Football Primetime'' aired on five different networks as part of ''
ESPN Full Circle
''ESPN Megacast'', formerly known as ''ESPN Full Circle'', is a multi-network simulcast of a single sporting event across multiple ESPN networks and serviceswith each feed providing a different version of the telecast making use of different featu ...
''. The networks included
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
,
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
,
ESPNU
ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the He ...
,
ESPN360
ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications (w ...
and
Mobile ESPN
Mobile ESPN was a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) run by The Walt Disney Company using Sprint's EVDO wireless network from November 25, 2005, until December 2006. The service was widely considered overpriced and a failure, though in retrosp ...
.
Franklin-Rowe Incident
On October 1, 2005, in a game that
Ron Franklin
Ronald Franklin (February 2, 1942January 18, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was employed by ESPN from 1987 to 2011. He was fired by ESPN on January 4, 2011, after making sexist comments to a colleague.Bob Davie, sideline reporter
Holly Rowe
Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster currently working for the sports television network ESPN. Rowe is best known as a sideline reporter for college football games which are telecast on ESPN. Rowe made Utah Jazz team ...
called out
Purdue
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mo ...
defensive coordinator
Brock Spack
Brock D. Spack (born January 5, 1962) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Illinois State University, position he has held since December 2008. Previously, he was the defensive coordinator at Purdue University under Jo ...
for using all three timeouts on defense despite trailing by four touchdowns late in the game. "If the coaches are giving up," Rowe added, "what does that say to the players?" Franklin responded: "Holly, it's not giving up. It's 49-21, sweetheart."
In response to that, Mo Davenport, senior coordinating producer for college football said, "It was an inappropriate comment, and we've communicated that to Ron. There's never a reason to say something so mean-spirited. Ron apologized. We dealt with it internally."
Personalities
Current
*
Sean McDonough
Sean McDonough (born May 13, 1962) is an American sportscaster, currently employed by ESPN and WEEI Red Sox Radio Network.
Early life
The son of ''Boston Globe'' sportswriter Will McDonough, McDonough graduated from the S. I. Newhouse Sch ...
: (play-by-play, 2018–present)
*
Todd Blackledge
Todd Alan Blackledge (born February 25, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in both the NCAA and National Football League. In college, he led the Penn State Nittany Lions to a national championship. A member of the famed Class of 19 ...
Todd McShay
Todd Marshall McShay (born March 22, 1977) is an American football television analyst and commentator.
Early life
McShay attended North Shore Christian School in Lynn, Massachusetts and then Swampscott High School in Swampscott, Massachusetts, ...
Erin Andrews
Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster, television personality, and actress. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox S ...
: (field reporter, 2004, 2009)
* Bob Davie: (analyst, 2005; also commentator for the August 30, 2008 game)
*
Ron Franklin
Ronald Franklin (February 2, 1942January 18, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was employed by ESPN from 1987 to 2011. He was fired by ESPN on January 4, 2011, after making sexist comments to a colleague.Mike Gottfried
Mike Gottfried (born December 17, 1944) is a sportscaster and former American football player and coach.
He served as the head football coach at Murray State University (1978–1980), the University of Cincinnati (1981–1982), the University of ...
Mike Patrick
Michael Patrick (born September 9, 1944) is a retired American sportscaster, known for his long tenure with ESPN.
Early career
Patrick began his broadcasting career in the fall of 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was ...
: (play-by-play, 2006–2008)
*
Joe Tessitore
Joseph William Tessitore (born January 1, 1971) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer f ...
: (play-by-play, 2016–2017)
*
Holly Rowe
Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster currently working for the sports television network ESPN. Rowe is best known as a sideline reporter for college football games which are telecast on ESPN. Rowe made Utah Jazz team ...
: (field reporter, 2005–2008, 2010–2019)
By year
Game features
*Starting Lineups: The starting lineups are presented during the first possession of each team's offense and defense.
*
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A ( , a play on the American English pronunciation of " filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in College Park, Georgia, Chick-fil-A op ...
Impact Players: Following the starting lineups, McDonough and Blackledge run down the top two or three impact players on each teams side of the ball.
*Halftime Report: The '' College Football Final'' crew of Matt Barrie,
Joey Galloway
Joseph Scott Galloway (born November 20, 1971) is an American former professional football player who is an analyst with ESPN. He was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Galloway was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with th ...
and
Jesse Palmer
Jesse James Palmer (born October 5, 1978) is a Canadian television personality, sports commentator, actor, and former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons in the early 2000s. ...
present the halftime report, which features analysis of the first half, highlights of earlier games and a look at other happenings in the sports world.
*Studio Update: This segment appears during various time in the game, when Matt Barrie gives up to the minute highlights when something big happens in another game.
*Primetime Pulse: Two or three times during the game, Matt Barrie shows a screen with live coverage of the ABC primetime game, the
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
primetime game and the
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
primetime game.
*Todd's Taste of the Town: Usually shown in the second or third quarter, game analyst Todd Blackledge highlights a local eatery.
Saturday Night Football
''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC'' (branded for sponsorship purposes as ''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC presented by Capital One'') is an American weekly presentation of prime time broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The da ...