The college football schedule is still rather thin for a typical Saturday of past years. But 2020 is nothing like past years. Fans look forward to the Big Ten (10/24), Pac-12 (11/7), Mid-American (11/4) and Mountain West (10/24) coming back into the fold.
ESPN tells us that the top four games this weekend where the talent will be on site are Florida-Texas A&M, Texas Tech-Iowa State, Alabama-Ole Miss and Miami- Clemson. There are a number of other games too where the announcers will be live but ESPN will also have voices call games from their homes. Truth be told, the broadcasters have done a solid job broadcasting games remotely. Viewers would need the ear of an orchestra conductor to tell if the announcers are live or off-site.
Roger Twibell, a onetime ABC regular, still stays busy in his early 70s. He’ll preside over Central Arkansas at Arkansas State on ESPN3.
Chris Cotter has been with ESPN since 2013. He arrived from the Fox Business Network where he spent three years.
Tim Brando is back in the Fox booth this weekend. He was off last Saturday. Tim will be joined by his usual partner Spencer Tillman on Kansas State at TCU.
Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit have ABC’s Saturday night primetime game, #7 Miami at #1 Clemson.
Like other sports, college football ratings this season aren’t setting any records. They’re behind the corresponding numbers of a year ago.
Week # 6
Thursday, Oct. 8
Tulane at Houston | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN – Bob Wischusen, Mike Golic Jr
Friday, Oct. 9
Louisville at Georgia Tech | 7 p.m. | ESPN – Jason Benetti, Andre Ware
Saturday, Oct. 10
No. 4 Florida at No. 21 Texas A&M | 12 p.m. | ESPN– Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy
No. 22 Texas vs. Oklahoma (Dallas, Texas) | 12 p.m. | Fox – Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
No. 19 Virginia Tech at No. 8 North Carolina | 12 p.m. | ABC – Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky
Coastal Carolina at No. 23 Louisiana | 12:00 p.m. | ESPN2 – Beth Mowins, Kirk Morrison
South Carolina at Vanderbilt | 12 p.m. | SEC Network– Dave Neal, DJ Shockley
UL Monroe at Liberty | 12 p.m. | ESPNU – Matt Warner, Joe Jauch
NC State at Virginia | 12 p.m. | ACC Network – Wes Durham, Tim Hasselbeck
Duke at Syracuse | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN3– Tom Werme, James Bates
The Citadel at Army | 1:30 p.m. | CBSSN – Ben Holden, Ross Tucker
No. 14 Tennessee at No. 3 Georgia | 3:30 p.m. | CBS – Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
UTSA at No. 15 BYU | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN2 – Anish Shroff, Tom Luginbill
Texas State at Troy | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN3 – Will Kollmeyer, Ben Stanfield
Central Arkansas at Arkansas State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN3 – Roger Twibell, Pete Cordelli
Texas Tech at No. 24 Iowa State | 3:30 p.m. | ABC – Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek
Arkansas at No. 13 Auburn | 4 p.m. | SEC Network- Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
Kansas State at TCU | 4 p.m. | Fox – Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman
Pitt at Boston College | 4 p.m. | ACC Network – Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich
Middle Tennessee at FIU | 4 p.m. | ESPNU – Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman
Florida Atlantic at Southern Miss | 4 p.m. | Stadium– Chris Vosters, Max Starks
No. 2 Alabama at Ole Miss | 6 p.m. | ESPN – Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge
Temple at Navy | 6 p.m. | CBSSN – John Sadak, Randy Cross
Florida State at No. 5 Notre Dame | 7 p.m. | NBC– Mike Tirico, Tony Dungy
East Carolina at South Florida | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ – Lincoln Rose, Stan Routt
No. 7 Miami at No. 1 Clemson | 7:30 p.m. | ABC – Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Mississippi State at Kentucky | 7:30 p.m. | SEC Network – Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers
UTEP at Louisiana Tech | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN2 – Dave O’Brien, Mike Golic
Marshall at Western Kentucky | 7:30 p.m. | Stadium – Chris Hassel, AJ Hawk
Charlotte at North Texas | 8 p.m. | ESPNU – Roy Philpott, Kelly Stouffer
Missouri at No. 17 LSU | 9 p.m. | ESPN – Dave Flemming, Rod Gilmore
By David J. Halberstam 10/07/2020
