NBC debuts new score bug on Navy-Notre Dame game

Whenever networks change their score bug design, it tends to spark a decent amount of chatter. That’s the case for the changes NBC has made for their college football score bug, which they unveiled Saturday on their broadcast of the Navy-Notre Dame Week 0 game in Ireland. Here’s what the new score bug looks like:

We have a change… 8 years later a ND graphics change. The NBC bug from 2015-2018 is now officially retired. @awfulannouncing #CollegeFootball #NotreDamevsNavy pic.twitter.com/wvPDgrtnFk

— Scorebugwatch (@scorebugwatch) August 26, 2023

And here’s last year’s for comparison:

An example of what the NBC score bug looked like for Notre Dame games last year in comparison: https://t.co/v9YwDE8yKm pic.twitter.com/iTtqcRdMoH

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 26, 2023

This looks much closer to their NFL score bug then their previous college football approach:

NBC new college football vs NFL scorebug.

Which do you like better? pic.twitter.com/Oz8Qcsv5gg

— Manny | Weather, TV, Sports (@sportsontvguy) August 26, 2023

Here’s some of the reaction the change has drawn:

https://twitter.com/JeffAgrest/status/1695511195845882258

Mostly good. The poll ranking is way too small/mushed. https://t.co/RIT7WDz5Xp

— David Gladow (@davegladow) August 26, 2023

NBC with a very good scorebug imo pic.twitter.com/qtAJaGf3n8

— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) August 26, 2023

I can't wait to see Oregon playing B10 games on NBC with this score bug. Can just imagine the white and green or black and yellow to match the weeks look. NBC production is one of the many things I'm looking forward to. pic.twitter.com/fU8sK6ndAZ

— Sam (@samuel101ts) August 26, 2023

As noted by some there, this change comes around a dramatic shift in NBC’s college football inventory. This season will be their first broadcasting Big Ten games (under a deal that runs through 2029-30) as well as Notre Dame games. And that’s led to notable change in who’s calling games as well: the team of Jac Collinsworth, Jason Garrett, and Zora Stephenson will continue to call Notre Dame games, but will also call selected Big Ten games.

Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge, and Kathryn Tappen will call most Big Ten games for NBC this year, while Mike Tirico, Chris Simms, and Lewis Johnson will call a Peacock-exclusive Toledo-Michigan game on Sept. 2. Brendan Burke, Paul Burmeister, and Andrew Siciliano will also be involved as play-by-play voices, with Joshua Perry, Michael Robinson, Kyle Rudolph, and Anthony Herron as additional analysts, and Carolina Pineda as an additional sideline reporter. And now we know what the score bug will look like for this newly-expanded NBC college football coverage.

[Scorebug Watch on Twitter]