For the upcoming college football season, ESPN has made a few changes to its announcing teams. The main team of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit for ABC’s Saturday Night Football will remain the same, however, there’s still no official replacement for Erin Andrews who left for Fox. The Big Lead has reported it will be Heather Cox, but she has told the Los Angeles Daily News that her contract with ESPN has expired so we’ll have to wait to see who replaces Erin.
As for the other teams, ESPN has created a new team for a package of primetime games, Joe Tessitore who had called Friday Night Football moves to Saturday night with Matt Millen. The sideline duties will be divided among Jessica Mendoza, Shannon Spake or Shelley Smith.
For the ESPN on ABC Saturday afternoon regional games, Sean McDonough remains on the top game, but he’ll be joined by once and now-present partner Chris Spielman. Mike Patrick and Ed Cunningham will form another team and Bob Wischusen and Danny Kanell will be the third team and be joined by new sideline reporter Maria Taylor.
ESPN’s Friday Night Football team will have one holdover, Rod Gilmore and he’ll have Carter Blackburn as his play-by-play man and Jamele Hill coming out of the First Take studios and to the sidelines.
We have the ESPN press release.
Multiple New Roles Highlight ESPN 2012 College Football Commentator Assignments
ESPN’s 2012 college football telecasts will be highlighted by commentators working in new roles and the addition of former Ohio State standout receiver Joey Galloway. In addition, Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will return for their seventh season together on the ABC Saturday Night Football series while Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe will continue to work the Saturday ESPN College Football Primetime telecast.
New assignments include:
- Three new commentator teams will call ABC Saturday afternoon broadcasts:
- Chris Spielman, an analyst on ESPN’s Saturday noon telecast, will pair up with Sean McDonough and reporter Quint Kessenich this season. Spielman and McDonough previously worked together on Saturday and Friday games from 2006-08.
- Ed Cunningham, a Saturday afternoon game analyst for four years before taking on ESPN2’s Saturday night game last year, will work with Mike Patrick and reporter Jeannine Edwards.
- Danny Kanell will move from an ESPNU night game to work with announcer Bob Wischusen, who returns to the ABC Saturday afternoon game, and new reporter Maria Taylor.
- ESPN’s Thursday and Friday night games will also have familiar faces in new roles:
- Analyst David Pollack and reporter Samantha Steele will join returning announcer Rece Davis and analyst Jesse Palmer on ESPN’s Thursday night game.
- Carter Blackburn will move from Saturday games to call the weekly Friday series with returning analyst Rod Gilmore and new sideline reporter Jemele Hill. Hill has been an ESPN.com national columnist where she has also appeared on ESPN television programs since 2006.
- Joe Tessitore and Matt Millen will serve as the announcers for a new package of additional Saturday night games, primarily on ESPN. Shannon Spake or Shelley Smith will report from the sidelines. Tessitore previously worked Friday night games with Rod Gilmore while Matt Millen was the analyst on Saturday afternoon ABC games with Sean McDonough.
- Each of the ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU Saturday noon telecasts will include new pairings:
- Brian Griese and reporter Jenn Brown will join returning commentator Dave Pasch on ESPN’s noon game. Last year, Griese was the analyst on the ESPNU Saturday night telecast and Brown was the reporter on the Thursday ESPN College Football Primetime series.
- New analyst Joey Galloway, a former Ohio State and NFL veteran wide receiver, will call ESPN2’s weekly noon series with returning commentator Beth Mowins.
- The new announce team of Tom Hart and analyst John Congemi will work the ESPNU noon telecast. Congemi previously called ESPN Regional Television’s BIG EAST Network games and Hart is new to ESPN.
- ESPN2 and ESPNU Saturday night telecasts will include analysts in new roles:
- Brock Huard, who worked select ESPN and ABC Saturday games last season, will pair up with Mark Jones on a weekly ESPN2 prime-time game.
- Matt Stinchcomb, an ESPNU studio analyst last year, will move to the ESPNU prime-time game with Clay Matvick and reporter Allison Williams.
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television Game Announcer Pairings
Note: Additional commentators will contribute throughout the season.
Game Telecast Play-by-play Analyst Reporter Saturday Night Football (on ABC) Brent Musburger Kirk Herbstreit TBA ESPN College Football Primetime (Saturday) Brad Nessler Todd Blackledge Holly Rowe ESPN Saturday Prime Time Joe Tessitore Matt Millen Jessica Mendoza, Shelley Smith or Shannon Spake ESPN2 College Football Primetime (Saturday) Mark Jones Brock Huard Jessica Mendoza or Shelley Smith ESPNU Saturday Prime Time Clay Matvick Matt Stinchcomb Allison Williams ESPN College Football Primetime (Thursday) Rece Davis Jesse Palmer and David Pollack Samantha Steele ESPN and ESPN2 Friday Carter Blackburn Rod Gilmore Jemele Hill ABC Saturday Afternoon Sean McDonough Chris Spielman Quint Kessenich ABC Saturday Afternoon Mike Patrick Ed Cunningham Jeannine Edwards ABC Saturday Afternoon Bob Wischusen Danny Kanell Maria Taylor ESPN College Football (Saturday afternoon) Dave Pasch Brian Griese Jenn Brown ESPN2 College Football (Saturday afternoon) Beth Mowins Joey Galloway ESPNU Saturday Afternoon Tom Hart John Congemi ESPNU Saturday Afternoon Anish Shrof Dan Hawkins ESPNU Thursday (HBCU) Joe Davis Jay Walker ESPNU Late Saturday (HBCU) Joe Davis Jay Walker ESPN Radio Bill Rosinski David Norrie Joe Schad SEC Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games) Dave Neal Andre Ware Cara Capuano BIG EAST Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games) Eamon McAnaney David Diaz-Infante Paul Carcaterra
More later.
