‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ getting SEC Championship altcast on ESPN2

Bussin’ With The Boys is getting an altcast for Saturday’s SEC Championship Game.

Taylor Lewan and Will Compton will call Georgia-Alabama on ESPN2 with Josh Pate and Harry Douglas. The news came out during an episode of The Locker Room, where Compton initially announced it. Later in the show, Lewan called Mike Foss, ESPN’s senior vice president of sports studio and entertainment, to make sure they could actually say it on air. Foss gave them the green light, though ESPN hasn’t issued an official announcement.

It’s another step in Bussin with the Boys’ relationship with ESPN. Lewan and Compton left Barstool earlier this year, went independent with a reported $30 million FanDuel deal, then signed with ESPN in August to appear on Get Up.

ESPN is following the template it used with Pat McAfee’s Field Pass altcasts during the College Football Playoff. Those pulled huge numbers, with the Rose Bowl semifinal drawing 2.4 million viewers. McAfee calls games from the sidelines, brings in guests, and keeps his podcast feel while actually doing play-by-play. He didn’t do an altcast for last year’s SEC Championship, so this is ESPN trying the format for a conference title game for the first time.

Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Holly Rowe will have the main ABC broadcast. SEC Network is doing a SkyCast without commentary. The ESPN2 altcast gives viewers a third option.

The question is whether Lewan and Compton can do what McAfee did. McAfee works because he takes the games seriously. He calls plays, provides analysis, and doesn’t just podcast for three hours. Lewan and Compton are entertaining on Get Up, and The Locker Room has worked as a college football show, but calling a live conference championship game is different. You have to handle the play-by-play, keep the flow going, and actually enhance the viewing experience while Georgia and Alabama are playing for a conference title and a playoff spot.

ESPN wouldn’t put them on a game this big if the network didn’t think they could handle it. The SEC Championship is one of the most important games of the college football season. If this goes well, there could be more altcasts down the line, maybe even during the playoff. If it doesn’t, this might be the first and last time we see Bussin’ with the Boys call a major college football game. McAfee proved podcast talent can transition to live game coverage with the right approach and production support. Saturday will show if Lewan and Compton can do the same.