WWL Shaking Up College Football Announcing Teams

[sportshack06]

Basically keeping the same crews together, just moving them around on times and networks it appears.


http://tvweek.com/news/2007/06/abc_espn_shake_up_college_foot.php

 

[SockPuppet]

Biggest change is the Saturday Night Football crew with Herbstreit taking over as the only analyst. That moves former ND coach Bob Davie to ESPN2 games after one season in prime-time as part of a 3-man booth. ABC national telecasts (D-IA) to ESPN2 (D-II) telecasts. Ouch.

 

[slappy4428]

Nice to see Ron Franklin out of the doghouse and in primetime on ABC

 

[Speedway]

That moves former ND coach Bob Davie to ESPN2 games after one season in prime-time as part of a 3-man booth. ABC national telecasts (D-IA) to ESPN2 (D-II) telecasts. Ouch.

Are you sure the espn2 saturday night games are D-II? I don't think so.

Glad to see Larry Coker landed somewhere.

 

[budcrew08]

That moves former ND coach Bob Davie to ESPN2 games after one season in prime-time as part of a 3-man booth. ABC national telecasts (D-IA) to ESPN2 (D-II) telecasts. Ouch.

Are you sure the espn2 saturday night games are D-II? I don't think so.

Glad to see Larry Coker landed somewhere.

ESPN doesn't show D-II or D-III games. [blue]Heaven forbid ESPN gets in the way of these bigwig assholes getting a big time payday[/blue]

 

[SockPuppet]

Uh, from network TV to cable TV is a bit of a drop, me thinks. And The Deuce is second string to ESPN, is it not?
Didn't mean to say ESPN covers D-II game. I believe it was an analogy.

 

[chester]

I don't know if I'm in the minority or not, but I actually liked the McDonough/Spielman crew that did the noon game on ESPN. Why would you put them on what figures to be a less-watched telecast than the one they were already on?

 

[playthrough]

I like Franklin on Saturday night ACC/SEC games. His voice just seems perfect for under-the-lights southern football.

 

[DanOregon]

Franklin was the man for the SEC Saturday night specials, ( a poor man's Keith Jackson) Mike Patrick just doesn't do it for me, he's too corporate-sounding. And I thought Bob Davie was a great analyst, I don't understand the move.
McDonough tends to sound condescending in his play-by-play. I'm not looking for Joe Homer, but he rarely seems like he is excited about being at the game.
Anybody have any inside dope on all the moving around of announcing crews that ABC/ESPN has done? I see people being elevated and others moved down (MNF as well), is it just the big boss making changes because he can? I've always felt crews that have worked together longer are better than crews that are new.

 

[slappy4428]

Who gets the privlege of working with Holly Rowe?

 

[chazp]

I would much rather listen to Herbstreit than Davie. Good move on their part. Sounds like the GameDay crew will remain the same. That's the best news.

 

[Appgrad05]

Ah, for the days of actually watching GameDay ...

 

[GB-Hack]

The other thing about this is they're moving Flutie and James to Thursday night, and will have a new ABC studio crew.

Who do you think they grab?

 

[Gutter]

Maybe someone can catch me up, did Pam Ward leave or did they just remove her from play-by-play duties?

 

[Football_Bat]

Thursday nights will work well for Craig James. He'll get to see both his sons play football. One is still in high school and the oldest is at Texas Tech.

 

[GB-Hack]

Maybe someone can catch me up, did Pam Ward leave or did they just remove her from play-by-play duties?

I think she's still on Saturday lunchtime duty. They didn't announce any new teams, except for James and Flutie, and everyone else just moved chairs.

 

[Tiger16]

Nothing says "Toledo-Bowling Green" like Pam Ward

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2007

New Assignments and Returning Commentators Highlight ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU College Football Coverage

Herbstreit on every Saturday Night Football Game; Flutie and James on Thursday Games; Coker Joins ESPNU; Ware on ESPN Saturday Afternoon Games; and McDonough and Spielman on Friday Nights

ESPN’s 2007 college football coverage will feature numerous new assignments within ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU’s commentator pairings. Highlights will include:

* Analyst Kirk Herbstreit will work every broadcast of the second season of Saturday Night Football Presented by Southwest Airlines on ABC with returning commentator Brent Musburger and reporter Lisa Salters. Herbstreit, who will continue to work on ESPN’s Saturday morning College GameDay program, was an analyst on most of the Saturday Night Football broadcasts last season.
* Analysts Doug Flutie and Craig James will call ESPN’s Thursday night games with returning commentator Chris Fowler, who will continue to host College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, and reporter Erin Andrews. Flutie worked the Boston College at Miami Thursday telecast last year, the 22nd anniversary to the day of his famous game-winning Hail Mary pass at the Orange Bowl, with Fowler, Herbstreit and Andrews.
* Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Stacey Dales will form a new team to work ESPN2’s Saturday primetime series.
* Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone, who previously called ESPN’s Saturday afternoon telecasts, will move to ESPN’s enhanced Friday primetime series.
* Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute will move from ESPN2’s Saturday primetime window to call games on ABC.
* Former Miami Hurricanes head coach Larry Coker will make his television debut as an analyst working select ESPNU games.
* Long-time ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried will work ESPNU primetime telecasts with Dave Armstrong.
* Dave Pasch, Andre Ware and Erin Andrews will form a new team to call ESPN’s Saturday afternoon games.

In addition to new assignments, television’s deepest field of commentators will feature announcers returning in familiar roles, including:

* Brad Nessler, analysts Bob Griese and Paul Maguire, and reporter Bonnie Bernstein will call top Saturday broadcasts on ABC.
* Mike Patrick, Blackledge and Holly Rowe will call the ESPN’s Saturday primetime series for the second consecutive year.
* Dan Fouts will call play-by-play for the second straight year on ABC with analyst Tim Brant, who also worked play-by-play in his career, and reporter Todd Harris.

For the third season, Charlie Neal and analyst Jay Walker will call ESPNU’s Thursday night telecasts featuring Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU).“We continuously evaluate and explore opportunities to better serve the fan, and fielding television’s most experienced and knowledgeable commentators is an important component to that success,” said Norby Williamson, executive vice president, production. “The changes strengthen our overall college football coverage and are highlighted by three signature voices in Kirk Herbstreit, Bob Davie and Todd Blackledge on our marquee Saturday primetime series.”

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU Game Assignments
(the table is kind of hard to follow because of the Ridiculously Long Game Titles Presented by ESPN's P.R. Department, but left to right you have game, play-by-play, analyst and sideline reporter)

Note: The following are finalized teams; additional commentators will be utilized throughout the season. Larry Coker will work select games on ESPNU with various play-by-play commentators.

Game Telecast Play-by-play Analyst Reporter
Saturday Night Football Presented by Southwest Airlines Brent Musburger Kirk Herbstreit Lisa Salters
ABC Saturday games Brad Nessler Bob Griese and Paul Maguire Bonnie Bernstein
ESPN College Football Primetime Presented by Hampton (Saturday) Mike Patrick Todd Blackledge Holly Rowe
ESPN College Football Primetime (Thursday) Chris Fowler Doug Flutie and Craig James Erin Andrews
ESPN2 College Football Primetime (Saturday) Mark Jones Bob Davie Stacey Dales
ESPN College Football Presented by Cars.com (Saturday afternoon) Dave Pasch Andre Ware Erin Andrews
ESPN2 College Football Presented by Cars.com (Saturday afternoon) Pam Ward TBA TBA
ABC Saturday games Ron Franklin Ed Cunningham Jack Arute
ABC Saturday games Dan Fouts Tim Brant Todd Harris
ABC Saturday games Terry Gannon David Norrie Jeanine Edwards
ESPN and ESPN2 Fridays Sean McDonough Chris Spielman Rob Stone
ESPN and ESPN2 midweek games Rece Davis Mark May and Lou Holtz Rob Stone or Todd Harris
ESPNU Saturday noon Clay Matvick Kelly Stouffer
ESPNU Saturday afternoon Doug Bell Charles Arbuckle
ESPNU Saturday primetime Dave Armstrong Mike Gottfried
ESPNU Thursday HBCU telecasts Charlie Neal Jay Walker

The 2007 season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN360.com and ESPN Regional Television will feature more than 400 regular-and post-season games, including weekly Saturday night games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. In addition to weekly ESPN Thursday night games, ESPN or ESPN2 will feature games every Friday and select Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays.

-30-


(I kept the Ridiculously Long Names for the game telecasts in the chart for SportsJournalists.com ridicule purposes.)

 

[Speedway]

Assuming, the ESPN PR listing places the broadcast teams in order of their value - here's another way to look at it...Although it's arguable whether a a primetime ESPN2 game is bigger than a regional ABC game.


Pbp:
1) Musberger
2) Nessler
3) Patrick
4) Fowler
5) Jones


Color:
1) Herbstreit
2) Griese/Maguire
3) Blackledge
4) Flutie/James
5) Davie

Sideline:
1) Salters
2) Bernstein
3) Rowe
4) Andrews
5) Dales