Airing each week at Friday night at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT, Fox Sports Live shucks the old College Football Saturday show and will try a new route with analysts and insiders talking about the ten biggest stories in the sport on “Countdown to Kickoff.”
Instead of Erin Andrews hosting a Saturday morning pregame that attracted few viewers, this show will run on a loop on Saturdays until Fox Sports 1’s first game of the day.
It will have analysts Joel Klatt, Petros Papadakis, Dave Wannstedt and Matt Leinart and Fox college football insiders “Free” Bruce Feldman, Clay Travis and Stewart Mandel.
This is what Fox is saying.
FOX SPORTS LIVE LAUNCHES FRIDAY NIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREGAME SHOW, “COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF”
Weekly Hour-Long Special on FOX Sports 1 Includes News, Insider Perspective, Strategic Analysis and Insight, and On-Site Game Previews
Los Angeles – Beginning Aug. 29, and continuing every Friday for the duration of the football season, FOX Sports 1’s flagship highlight, news and opinion show, FOX SPORTS LIVE, features a dedicated hour of college football programming with the newly minted FOX SPORTS LIVE: COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF.
Slated to air weekly during the 12:00 AM ET hour, the show activates all reaches of FOX Sports’ deep college football talent stable to provide viewers with a dynamic, entertaining, and informational head start on all of Saturday’s action.
“Few things in sports rival the enthusiasm and passion fans have for college football,” FOX SPORTS LIVE executive producer Michael Hughes said. “We are really excited about this concept and feel like we have an awesome group of insiders and analysts who have covered the game and competed at its highest level.”
In-studio analysts include Joel Klatt, Matt Leinart, Petros Papadakis and Dave Wannstedt. In addition, FOX Sports’ trio of college football insiders, Bruce Feldman, Stewart Mandel and Clay Travis, are on hand to provide news breaks and insights on each week’s most relevant topics, including explanations and analysis of the sport’s first-ever playoff system.
The format counts down the week’s biggest stories from 10 to 1, mixing in related analysis and conversation from the panel of experts. With FOX Sports also holding an expansive rights package for games this season, the show cuts away to on-site reports from the respective crews for previews of Saturday’s contests airing on FOX and FOX Sports 1. On-site game talent includes veteran broadcasters Gus Johnson, Charles Davis and Tim Brando among others.
FOX SPORTS LIVE: COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF airs live at 12:00AM ET, followed by a series of re-airs on Saturday mornings that lead into FOX Sports 1’s first game each Saturday, set for kick off at 12:00 PM ET.
FOX SPORTS LIVE: Countdown To Kickoff
In-Studio TalentTalent Role Note Joel Klatt Analyst Former Univ. of Colorado QB; Set 44 school records Matt Leinart Analyst Former Univ. of Southern Calif. QB; 2004 Heisman Trophy winner;
Two-time first-team All-AmericanDave Wannstedt Analyst 39 years of coaching experience; Two-time National Championship winner as assistant coach – Pittsburgh (1976), Miami (1987) Petros Papadakis Analyst Former Univ. Of Southern Calif. FB; 2000 team captain Bruce Feldman Insider FOXSports.com senior CFB reporter and columnist;
Author – Meat Market, Cane Mutiny, Swing Your SwordStewart Mandel Insider FOXSports.com senior CFB columnist; Author – Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls, The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the College Football Playoff Clay Travis Insider FOXSports.com/Outkick The Coverage college football blogger;
Author – Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top
There you have it.
