Throughout the college football offseason, we’ve been telling you about various changes to the ESPN studio lineup. Whether it was Rece Davis being named to replace Chris Fowler on College GameDay, Lou Holtz leaving or an entirely new cast for College Football Final, the Worldwide Leader has decided to make wholesale changes to its lineup.
Now we have the official announcement on the new hosts for each studio show. One interesting development is that Joe Tessitore will no longer be calling games on Saturdays. He’ll host SEC Nation on SEC Network from various game sites on Saturday mornings, then fly up to Bristol, CT in time to host College Football Final after all the games are done. Now this does not necessarily mean the Law of JoeTess, his knack for calling exciting games is done for season. We’ll find out if he’ll continue calling games in the near future.
Other highlights:
- Mark May will join the ABC studio team of John Saunders and Mack Brown.
- Danny Kannell goes to ESPN from ABC joining Adnan Virk and Joey Galloway as the pregame, halftime and postgame studio on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
- Chris Cotter will become the daily host of College Football Live on ESPN at 2 p.m. ET with a rotation of various analysts.
- Cotter will be the pregame, halftime and postgame host for ESPN2 games. He’ll be joined by Robert Smith who returns from last year and former Miami, Cleveland Browns and North Carolina coach Butch Davis.
- ESPNU’s games will be hosted from Charlotte, NC and be fronted by Matt Schick and Brendan Fitzgerald. The analysts will be Charles Arbuckle and Kevin Carter.
Other than Davis joining College GameDay, there are no other changes to the show. Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack remain on the program and Tom Rinaldi and Samantha Ponder will stay as contributors.
Here is the full college football studio lineup on the networks of ESPN:
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPNU Studio Assignments
Show |
Host |
Analyst |
Contributor |
| College GameDay Built by The Home Depot (Saturdays: 9 a.m. to noon on ESPN) | Rece Davis | Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard & David Pollack | Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi & Gene Wojciechowski |
| Pre-game, halftime and post-game (Saturdays on ABC) | John Saunders | Mack Brown & Mark May | |
| Pre-game, halftime and post-game (Thursday, Friday & Saturdays on ESPN) | Adnan Virk | Joey Galloway & Danny Kanell | |
| Pre-game, halftime and post-game (Saturdays on ESPN2) | Chris Cotter | Butch Davis & Robert Smith | |
| College Football Final (Saturdays after games conclude) | Joe Tessitore | ||
| Pre-game, halftime and post-game (Saturdays on ESPNU) | Matt Schick & Brendan Fitzgerald | Kevin Carter & Charles Arbuckle | |
| College Football Live (Daily: 2 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2) | Chris Cotter | Rotating analysts | |
| Championship Drive: Who’s In? (Sundays: 1 p.m. on ESPN – beginning Oct. 4) | Adnan Virk | Butch Davis, Heather Dinich, Brad Edwards, Danny Kanell, Mark May, Robert Smith | |
| College Football Playoff: Top 25 (Tuesdays – beginning Oct.) | Rece Davis | Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway, Danny Kanell, David Pollack |
The next college football announcement from ESPN will be its play-by-play/analyst teams and that is expected sometime next week.
[ESPN]
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.