ESPN's Joe Tessitore will "'bookend' the network's college football weekend" this season, serving as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN's Thursday night game, as well as the host of SEC Network's "SEC Nation" on Saturday mornings and ESPN's "College Football Final" that evening, according to Pete Dougherty of the Albany TIMES UNION. Tessitore said, "This is something that was brought up when we were sizing up what my new world order was for the fall. I get the first national telecast of college football weekend on Thursday, where you get a good game and you get to set up for the weekend ahead, and then I get 'College Football Final.' I like that idea. A lot." Dougherty notes Tessitore in a typical week will "fly out Wednesday morning from his Connecticut home to the Thursday night game site." After the game he will "leave Friday morning for whichever SEC campus is host to 'SEC Nation' on Saturday morning." Once that is over, he will "catch a jet for the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn., for the Saturday night show, which airs around midnight, depending on the ESPN live game telecast." It is "actually a better travel schedule than last year, when Tessitore did play-by-play on Saturday nights, usually for ESPN2, after hosting 'SEC Nation' in the morning." Tessitore: "Last year was incredible. They would have police escorts with a car facing out. 'SEC Nation' was just like 'GameDay.' You're going through a crowd of 5,000 behind the set, tailgating with another 30,000, and they'd have the police get me out of there" (Albany TIMES UNION, 8/7).
NEW CREWS: ESPN on Thursday announced the broadcast teams for the ’15 college football season, highlighted by new pairings for the net’s Thursday and Friday night games. Tessitore moves into the Thursday night play-by-play slot previously held by Rece Davis, who will take on hosting duties for "College GameDay." Analyst Mack Brown will join the Friday night game while retaining his Saturday ABC studio role (ESPN). Below are select pairings for ESPN's college football games.
| SATURDAY TELECASTS |
PLAY-BY-PLAY |
ANALYST |
REPORTER |
| Saturday Night Football |
Chris Fowler |
Kirk Herbstreit |
Heather Cox |
| ESPN College Football Primetime |
Brad Nessler |
Todd Blackledge |
Holly Rowe |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Sean McDonough |
Chris Spielman |
Todd McShay |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Mark Jones |
Rod Gilmore |
Quint Kessenich |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Adam Amin |
Kelly Stouffer |
Olivia Harlan |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Dave Pasch |
Brian Griese |
Tom Luginbill |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Beth Mowins |
Anthony Becht |
Pal Carcaterra |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Mike Patrick |
Ed Cunningham |
Jerry Punch |
| ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC |
Bob Wischusen |
Brock Huard |
Shannon Spake |
| WEEKDAY TELECASTS |
PLAY-BY-PLAY |
ANALYST |
REPORTER |
| ESPN College Football Primetime |
Joe Tessitore |
Jesse Palmer &
David Pollack |
Kaylee Hartung |
| ESPN or ESPN2 Friday |
Dave Flemming |
Mack Brown |
Allison Williams |
| ESPN or ESPN2 Tuesday or Wednesday |
Dave Lamont |
Desmond Howard |
|
