The CFP Battle Begins: ESPN Covers First Round With Various MegaCast Options, Compact Tech Plan, Team Insights on Conference Networks

A 12-team College Football Playoff has been a pipe dream for many years, but now that it’s here, ESPN is going full bore to bring this bracket-style competition to the masses. The first two First Round primetime games between No. 10 Indiana and No. 7 Notre Dame on Friday, Dec. 20 and No. 9 Tennessee and No. 8 Ohio State on Saturday, Dec. 21 will feature nearly a dozen total viewing options on the four-letter network’s signature CFP MegaCast production.

The main telecast for both games will be presented on ESPN and ABC, with additional viewing options on ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App for one or both matchups. Additionally, the Saturday afternoon showdowns of No. 11 SMU at Penn State and No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas will be live on TNT, TBS, TruTV, Max (English and Spanish language broadcasts) and ESPN Radio.

Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show Leads MegaCast from Columbus

For the third consecutive season, the MegaCast fan favorite Field Pass returns to the College Football Playoff. Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show will offer entertaining, free-flowing commentary of the First Round game featuring No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State on ESPN2. Pat McAfee will anchor coverage and call the action while roaming the sidelines of Ohio Stadium. He will be joined by a rotation of ESPN analysts, notable personalities, and celebrities throughout the game. His regular The Pat McAfee Show crew of AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, Connor Campbell, Ty Schmit, and Tone Digs are set to join McAfee in primetime from the sidelines of The Shoe.

Additional Alternate Presentations (all available on the ESPN App):

• Command Center (ESPN2 – Fri/ESPNU – Sat): A multi-angle presentation, which includes up to four different vantage points at any one time, with real-time player and team statistics supplementing the game action.
• SkyCast (ESPNEWS): The popular view from above the action and behind the offense on most plays. This unique angle has long been one of ESPN’s alternate viewing options and is readily available on multiple games every week. Replays will be shown every time the main telecast shows a replay, while never losing the look from SkyCam.

CFP Marching Bands on ESPN App

For the fourth consecutive year, the halftime marching band performances at the College Football Playoff will be available on the ESPN App. The sights and sounds of the Indiana University Marching Hundred, the Band of Fighting Irish, the Pride of the Southland Band and the Ohio State University Marching Band will be streaming live from their respective College Football Playoff First Round games via the All-22 view.

Ops Jigsaw Puzzle: Network Stitches Together Plan for On-Campus Productions

Led by ESPN’s Executive Director, Field Operations, John LaChance, these first round matchups will test the network’s broadcast infrastructure and onsite operational planing. When it comes time to produce the College Football Playoffs, the crew is used to rolling up to professional stadiums that can handle a ton of technologies and multiple mobile units and don’t require much fiber for connectivity. This weekend, these four games will not only be broadcasted from legacy venues with tech backbones suited for smaller-scaled shows, but also a much smaller-sized compound. This compound becomes a challenge since TNT Sports is distributing SMU-Penn State and Clemson-Texas on their networks.

To alleviate some of this stress, along with corralling the deluge of other games under their umbrella during college football bowl season, ESPN’s remote operations staff is leaning on their REMI workflows from various locations. These cloud-based solutions will allow offsite personnel in Bristol, CT; Charlotte; and other locations to remain connected to these other facilities as well as the onsite staffers at the respective campuses.

Commentators Set for First Round Clashes

In addition to ESPN’s multiple presentations, fans will be able to hear the call of the CFP First Round from a multitude of broadcast teams:

• Main Telecast (ESPN): ESPN’s top commentary team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Holly Rowe alongside Marty Smith are on the call for No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State, while Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath, and Katie George are teaming up for No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame.
  • The ESPN crews that will call the First Round matchups on TNT Sports (TNT/TBS/TruTV/Max) include Mark Jones, Roddy Jones, Quint Kessenich, and Tom Luginbill – No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, and Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Taylor McGregor, and Laura Rutledge – No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas.
• ESPN Radio (ESPN App): The broadcast for all four First Round games is available throughout the country on more than 400 ESPN Radio stations, the ESPN App, ESPNRadio.com, SiriusXM, Apple Music, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.
  • Indiana/Notre Dame: Mike Couzens, Max Starks, Alyssa Lang
  • SMU/Penn State: Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick, Dawn Davenport
  • Clemson/Texas: Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Dana Boyle
  • Tennessee/Ohio State: Marc Kestecher, Kelly Stouffer, Ian Fitzsimmons
• Hometown Audio (SEC Network): Tennessee fans can listen to the local radio broadcast of the Vols, with their audio feed synced up with ESPN’s SkyCast presentation on SEC Network. This MegaCast feed is made possible in conjunction with Vol Network Powered by LEARFIELD and showcases the voices of Bob Kesling, Pat Ryan, Brent Hubbs, and Jayson Swain.
• Spanish Showcases (ESPN Deportes/ESPN App/Max): All four First Round games include Spanish-language calls featuring Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega (Indiana/Notre Dame – ESPN Deportes/ESPN App), Eitan Benezra and Alex Pombo (SMU/Penn State – Max), Varela and Sebastian M. Christensen (Clemson/Texas – Max), and Ciro Procuna and Javier Trejo Garay (Tennessee/Ohio State – ESPN Deportes/ESPN App).

College GameDay Playoff Run Begins

College GameDay Built by The Home Depot – coming off the most-viewed regular season in its 38-year history – will be live from South Bend, IN, from 3:30 – 8 p.m. ET. The crew will make a quick turnaround for a three-hour show (9 a.m. – noon) on Saturday, Dec. 21, in Columbus, OH.

GameDay will continue its Playoff run with special editions originating from the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential on Wednesday, Jan. 1 (10 a.m. – 1 p.m.), followed by back-to-back episodes from both Semifinals – Thursday, Jan. 9 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Orange Bowl, and Friday, Jan. 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. live from the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

The season culminates at the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 20, with a special episode from 5-7:30 p.m. before the big game (7:30 p.m.).

Rece Davis leads the show in his 10th season at the helm, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban. Reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims, along with college football insider Pete Thamel and college football betting analyst ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin round out the GameDay on-air crew.

SEC Network

SEC Network’s coverage kicks off Friday, as Peter Burns hosts SEC This Morning, alongside Chris Doering live from the Charlotte studios. On-site coverage then begins from Austin, Texas with #FinebaumFriday. The Paul Finebaum Show Presented by Allstate – hosted by the Mouth of the South – is live from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium from 3-7 p.m. on Friday.

Saturday morning, SEC Nation Presented by Allstate hits the airways at 10 a.m. live from DKR with Laura Rutledge and analysts Roman Harper, Paul Finebaum, Jordan Rodgers, and Tim Tebow as the crew readies fans with the latest insights.

Heading up to Columbus on Saturday – Marty & McGee Presented by Allstate brings its southern roots north as Marty Smith and Ryan McGee are live from the Buckeyes’ campus from 6-7 p.m. Directly following Marty & McGee, SEC Now Presented by Allstate is set to air with host Dari Nowkhah. He is joined by Doering and Benjamin Watson as the trio gets fans ready all the way until kick at 8:15 p.m.

During the game, SEC Network will offer a Skycast option, featuring the Tennessee Volunteers Radio Network. The MegaCast offering gives viewers an aerial view of the action as the Volunteers and Buckeyes battle it out for a spot in the quarterfinals. Closing out the night, the quartet of Nowkhah, McGee, Doering, and Watson recap the game action on SEC Football Final Presented by Allstate.

ACC Network

ACC Network will also have live onsite programming from both Austin and State College, PA. On Friday, Mark Packer hosts ACC PM: CFP Preview (4-6 p.m.) with insight and analysis from a bevy of guests and ACCN football analysts. On Saturday, ACC Huddle begins at 10 a.m. with a special two-hour pregame show leading into SMU at Penn State (noon, TNT/Max). A one-hour ACC Huddle will also air immediately following Clemson at Texas (4 p.m., TNT/Max), recapping both historic First Round games.

Friday and Saturday’s live coverage will include hosts and reporters in four different locations. Packer hosts Friday’s ACC PM from Charlotte while host Justin Walters and analysts Mark Herzlich and Mark Richt will be live from ACCN’s Bristol studios. Wes Durham and Tom Luginbill, the voices of ACC Primetime Football, will report from Penn State alongside Eddie Royal. In Austin, ACC Huddle host Taylor Tannebaum provides perspective alongside analysts EJ Manuel and Eric Mac Lain, Clemson’s all-time winningest player.

ESPN and TSN Team Up to Bring Bowl Season to Big Screen

ESPN has extended its theatrical distribution agreement with Theater Sports Network (TSN) to present all 11 College Football Playoff (CFP) games, including all four CFP First Round games, the CFP Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, the CFP Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the CFP Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential, the CFP Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the CFP Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl, the CFP Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and the College Football Playoff National Championship. Cosm Los Angeles and Cosm Dallas are just two of the many theaters where games are available. To find your local listings, please visit TheaterSportsNetwork.com.

The exclusive home of the CFP since the event debuted in 2015, ESPN expanded its current package through the 2025-26 season and extended its rights agreement through the 2031-32 season, adding all four games of the new CFP First Round each year to ESPN’s existing New Year’s Six games (now Playoff Quarterfinals and Playoff Semifinals) and the CFP National Championship. In May, ESPN announced a five-year agreement with TNT Sports to sublicense select CFP games beginning this postseason.