Real, live, consequential football is upon us with Week 0 kicking off this weekend. You can view the complete 2024-25 college football schedule here.
In the meantime, change defines the current college football landscape both on and off the field. That includes media. Let’s go over the headlines for what is certain to be a much different college football season.
Conference realignment hits the networks
Schools are changing conferences and the conferences are changing television networks. This season marks what can safely be said is the largest shakeup to college football media rights in recent history. Most notably, the 2024-25 season will mark the first in which ESPN will carry the SEC’s A-package that CBS has aired since 1996. ESPN will now carry the entirety of SEC football.
CBS enters into its second season in the Big Ten business, but now Big Ten inventory will now fill the traditional 3:30PM ET timeslot that had been home to the SEC. NBC also enters its second season of Big Ten football with the continuation of its Saturday night primetime package. FOX maintains the Big Ten A-package and will continue to put marquee games in its “Big Noon” timeslot.
The ACC and Big 12 deals remain unchanged from last season. The ACC will continue to air (almost) exclusively on ESPN properties, sans a sub-license agreement for lower-profile games on The CW. The Big 12 continues its deals with ESPN and FOX.
Further down the conference hierarchy, TNT Sports will air a package of Mountain West games on truTV marking the first time the company has aired college football since 2006. The conference colloquially known as the “Pac-2” also found a home this season on The CW.
ESPN bolsters “College GameDay” lineup, “Big Noon” stays the course
ESPN added some star power to its “College GameDay” studio show this year, securing the talents of recently retired Alabama coach Nick Saban for the program. He’ll join the familiar crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and Pat McAfee — who opted to return to the show after some summer indecision. “GameDay” will debut for the season during the Week 0 Florida State-Georgia Tech showdown in Ireland, marking the first time the show has gone abroad.
As for its direct competitor over at FOX, “Big Noon Kickoff” will seemingly continue with a cast of Rob Stone, Mark Ingram, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, and Urban Meyer this season. That show will kickoff in Week 1 for Penn State-West Virginia before hitting Texas-Michigan in Week 2.
Expanded playoff shakes up bowl season
The much anticipated 12-team College Football Playoff begins this season, adding eight more games of postseason fun to the schedule. The first round will start two weeks following conference championship weekend and feature four games at on-campus venues. The first will be played on Friday night with the other three games being played throughout the next day. Notably, ESPN has sub-licensed two of its first round games to TNT Sports, who will carry the two Saturday afternoon games (which face direct NFL competition). ESPN will air the two primetime contests, one Friday and one Saturday.
The rest of the way, ESPN will broadcast every game. Of the four quarterfinal games, one will be played on New Year’s Eve with the others played on New Year’s Day. The semifinals will be played on January 9th and 10th, a Thursday and Friday. Finally, a champion will be crowned on Monday, January 20th.
It’s important to note, while ESPN’s two first round games will be simulcast on ABC, all games past the first round will air exclusively on ESPN.
The rest of bowl season will see some minor changes to account for the expanded playoff. Bowl season will now start one week earlier than normal, with the Celebration Bowl and Camellia Bowl both being played one week after conference championship weekend — the same day as the Army-Navy game. These bowls will not directly compete with Army-Navy during its traditional 3PM ET slot.
Non-playoff bowls will now stretch into January as bowls avoid competing directly against playoff games. As such, the final non-playoff bowl game this season, the Bahamas Bowl, is scheduled for January 4th. Last season, all non-playoff bowl games were finished by December 28th.
Regular season scheduling notes
For the first time this season, FOX will air a full schedule of college football games on its broadcast network most Fridays after not renewing its WWE contract. The schedule will primarily feature teams from the Big Ten and Big 12, along with the Mountain West Championship Game. The package kicks off in Week 3 for Arizona-Kansas State. Notably, many of FOX’s Friday night windows will feature teams that departed the Pac-12 for either the Big Ten or Big 12.
One of the most high-profile changes of the season impacts one of college football’s most high-profile rivalries. The Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas — now both members of the SEC — will kickoff at 3:30PM ET during the new “SEC on ABC” window rather than its traditional noon kickoff time.
Speaking of “SEC on ABC,” the network will see a busy Week 1. The first game of the franchise will include Miami-Florida at 3:30PM ET. That game will have a marquee lead-in with Georgia-Clemson at noon. Then Notre Dame-Texas A&M will close out the day for ABC at 7:30PM ET.
Networks reveal announcing teams
Each network has revealed its broadcasting talent for the upcoming season. See who will be calling this season of college football below.
CBS
Lead team: Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, Jenny Dell
Additional play-by-play: Rich Waltz, Jordan Kent, Dave Ryan, Carter Blackburn, Chris Lewis, Alex Del Barrio, John Sadak, Jason Knapp
Additional analysts: Ross Tucker, Robert Turbin, Randy Cross, Taylor McHargue, Adam Breneman, Donte Whitner, Brock Vereen
Sideline reporters: Tiffany Blackmon, Amanda Guerra, Tina Cervasio, Keiana Martin, Sheehan Stanwick Burch, Emily Proud, Brandon Baylor
ESPN/ABC
In order of announcement:
Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe (will split top duties)
Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath (will split top duties)
Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer, Katie George (will split top duties)
Mark Jones, Roddy Jones, Quint Kessenich
Bob Wischusen, Kris Budden, Louis Riddick
Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek, Taylore McGregor
Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker (HBCU Spotlights)
Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic (lead SEC Network team)
Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill, Dana Boyle (lead ACC Network team)
Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen, Harry Lyles
Anish Shroff, Andre Ware, Paul Carcaterra
Brian Custer, Rod Gilmore, Lauren Sisler
Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Alyssa Lang
Eric Frede, Jack Ford
Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler, Stormy Buonantony
Roy Philpott, Sam Acho, Taylor Davis
Mike Monaco, Kirk Morrison, Dawn Davenport
Dave Neal, Aaron Murray, Ashley ShahAhmadi
Jorge Sedano, Orlando Franklin, Morgan Uber
Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich, Coley Harvey
Jay Alter, Rocky Boiman
Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker
Mike Corey/Courtney Lyle, Rene Ingoglia
Matt Schumacker, Dustin Fox
Noah Reed, Craig Haubert
Clay Matvick, Steve Addazio
Additional play-by-play: James Westling, Jason Ross, Jr., Drew Carter, Roxy Bernstein, Richard Cross, Shawn Kenney, Beth Mowins, Doug Sherman, Ted Emrich
Additional analysts: Charlie Strong, Barrett Brooks, Charles Arbuckle, Tyoka Jackson, Forrest Conoly, and reporters Sherree Burruss, Marilyn Payne, Tori Petry, Ashley Stroehlein
Rules analysts: Bill LeMonnier, Matt Austin
FOX
Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, Jenny Taft
Jason Benetti, Brock Huard, Allison Williams
Tim Brando, Devin Gardner, Josh Sims
Connor Onion, Mark Helfrich
Eric Collins, Spencer Tillman
Alex Faust, Robert Smith
Chris Myers, Petros Papadakis
NBC/Peacock
Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge, Kathryn Tappen (Big Ten Saturday Night)
Dan Hicks, Jason Garrett, Zora Stephenson (Notre Dame)
Additional play-by-play: Paul Burmeister, Jac Collinsworth, Andrew Siciliano, Brendan Burke
Additional analysts: Colt McCoy, Kyle Rudolph
The CW
Thom Brennaman, Max Browne, Treavor Scales (ACC)
Ted Robinson, Ryan Leaf, Nigel Burton (Pac-12)
J.B. Long, Michael Bumpus, Camryn Irwin, Heidi Watney (Pac-12 “After Dark”)
truTV
Ari Wolfe, Darius Walker, Jared Greenberg
J.B. Long, Mike Golic Jr.
