A week ago, our staff discussed our favorite current NFL broadcast booths. This week, we’re taking things to the amateur level – which current college football booths are our favorites? Some of our long-time favorites, most notably, Verne Lundquist and Brent Musburger, have moved on, and the default answers are no longer valid.

So, which booths do our staffers love?

Andrew Bucholtz: I think my favorite’s the ESPN or ABC team of Adam Amin, Rod Gilmore, and Quint Kessenich, and that’s mostly because of Amin. He’s done a lot of impressive work across sports in the past few years (he’s been with ESPN since 2011, but has really received a lot of higher-profile gigs recently), and I love how he brings enthusiasm to every game without going over the top into unnecessary theatrics. He shows plenty of passion, even in blowouts, but when he gets particularly excited, it’s because of a legitimately great play or moment, not just yelling for the sake of yelling. You can tell that he does significant prep work and brings plenty of knowledge to the role, but he also seems to be avoiding shoehorning in everything he’s found, mentioning angles only when they’re relevant. He’s also a great Twitter follow.

Amin’s worked with several different partners over the past few years, one who even abandoned him mid-broadcast, but I think Gilmore has been a good fit. Gilmore can be annoyingly conservative at times, but pairing him with a younger broadcaster like Amin has removed some of the “back in my day” complaints that Mark Jones/Gilmore broadcasts would sometimes turn into, and Amin seems to bring out interesting observations from Gilmore. And Kessenich is a solid sideline reporter, as long as he leaves the cupcakes at home. So this booth gets my pick.

It should be noted that ESPN has a lot of good booths, though, and not always the highest-profile ones; I also considered the booth of Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, and Tom Luginbill, plus Bob Wischusen, Brock Huard, and Allison Williams. Each of those booths regularly strikes me as an enjoyable listen, which certainly isn’t the case for all the college football broadcasts out there.

Matt Clapp: I’ll go with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, particularly for Herbstreit. I don’t think there’s a better color commentator in either college football or the NFL.

I didn’t used to be a huge Fowler guy for college football (though always loved him doing tennis coverage), but I think he’s a lot better now and has a great rapport with Herbstreit.

Plus, you just know it’s the main event (or at least close) when these guys are on the call. You know that’s (usually) the game you’re supposed to be watching.

Ben Koo: This is not really a novel answer, but I do actually think Fowler and Herbstreit are the best college football announcing team active today. I actually think they are the best announcing team in all of football.

I’ll start with Herbstreit, who I think is the best color announcer across college and the NFL. Sometimes he can be a bit vanilla, but the reality is that in between overall smoothness in the booth and sharpness of their commentary, nobody is better.

I wasn’t that big of Fowler fan when he replaced Musburger, who has long been a favorite of mine. He’s gotten better, although I think a lot folks think it’s mostly just added volume and not much more. Nessler, Tirico, and formerly Tessitore are guys I’d potentially slot ahead of Fowler, but that margin is pretty thin, if there is one at all. While a bit more of an acquired taste, Fowler is fine with me, and him and Herbstreit can fall back to hamming it up like they did on Gameday when games get out of hand, so their ability to fill time in noncompetitive games is something that really sets them apart. It’s crazy to think how many championship games this pair could call together going forward and I’m totally okay with that.

Joe Lucia: My enjoyment of college football has waned in recent years, and as I thought about this question, I realized how many current broadcast booths have only one announcer I like (Joel Klatt, Mike Tirico, Dave Flemming to name three), and how many crews change every year without anyone really noticing.

With all that being said, I think I’m going to lean towards the ESPN trio of Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, and Tom Luginbill. I feel like this trio balances the line between information, humor, and excitement without going too far in either direction. It’s also not a broadcast that is completely bizarre and out of left field, like Pasch’s partnership in basketball with Bill Walton. Sure, this isn’t the sexiest team with the highest profile games every week, but I know I’ll be getting a largely consistent experience that doesn’t make me want to change the channel in frustration.

Jay Rigdon: I don’t really have one anymore. My answer would have been Verne and Gary in the past, and now there’s not one booth that jumps out at me as my favorite, though there are plenty that are solid-to-great.

I will say that Mike Tirico goes a long way towards making Notre Dame games feel as important as Notre Dame thinks they are.

Matt Yoder: I probably wouldn’t have had this answer a few years ago, but for me it’s Fowler and Herbie. I’ve always liked Herbstreit’s game analysis, and when Fowler first replaced Brent Musburger, I was a bit concerned. However, give Fowler all the credit in the world as he’s turned into a really good play by play man. (And he’s probably even better at tennis actually.) Most importantly, the game feels bigger when they are there which is always a huge point in favor of a top announce team.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.