Booger McFarland has been making headlines since Saturday when he was the loudest voice at ESPN over Florida State getting snubbed by the College Football Playoff. While most of his colleagues seemed to be toeing the line that the committee “got it right” or concocting outlandish reasons to discredit FSU, McFarland was apoplectic about the fact that an undefeated Power Five conference championship was shut out.
This wouldn’t be McFarland’s only time bucking the status quo at ESPN this week.
The former Monday Night Football analyst was a guest on this week’s episode of SI Media with Jimmy Traina. Along with other topics, including his thoughts on the infamous “BoogerMobile,” McFarland shared his opinions on the state of college football and why it creates such impassioned responses from fans and media members alike.
As part of that conversation, McFarland offered up the kind of high praise you don’t hear very often from an ESPN employee, giving kudos to Fox for their Big Noon Saturday presentation.
“One of the greatest things that’s happened in our industry, and my company’s not gonna like this, is Fox putting their best game at noon,” said McFarland. “Because Fox has made a decision…they’re trying to own the 10-12, you could debate how they get there with the numbers and all that, but from 12-4, they’ve decided ‘We’re gonna try to own that window.’ And they’re putting their best game there. Even though the game doesn’t kick off until 12:15, wink-wink, they are doing their best to own that window. It’s one of the smartest things.
“As a fan, guess what, I get great football at 12:00. I don’t have to wait until 3:30 for CBS or until 7:30 or 8:30 on ABC. So I commend Fox for doing that. I think it’s been one of the great things a network has done in the last five years.”
The ESPN brass might not appreciate McFarland praising their biggest rival up and down, especially considering they’re currently locked in a heated battle for that “10-12,” as he put it. But it was certainly refreshing to hear him discuss the situation as a fan.
McFarland might have done himself a favor to have noted that the ESPN networks also have their own college football game broadcasts throughout the day, but we’re guessing someone internally is reminding him of that fact now.
We wouldn’t imply that McFarland was laying some groundwork with Fox on the chance that he’s looking for a new employer, as he re-upped with ESPN just a year ago. But in this industry, it never hurts to send a little feeler out there once in a while just in case.
