ESPN Goes Between the Hedges in Primetime
Heading into Week 5 of the college football season, ESPN networks will play host to 14 AP Top 25 ranked teams, highlighted by No. 4 Georgia hosting No. 7 Auburn in primetime on ESPN. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Allison Williams are set to announce the action from Athens on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET. In total, 26 games are set for ESPN platforms this weekend, and every matchup is available on the ESPN App.
ABC’s Saturday Night Football Presented by Capital One features the Big 12 battle between No. 18 Oklahoma at Iowa State, with the quartet of Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge, Todd McShay and Molly McGrath on the call for the Samsung QLED 4K Game of the Week.
ABC’s Saturday afternoon slate kicks off with another Big 12 matchup, this time between Baylor and West Virginia, as Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky and Rocky Boiman team up to call Bears-Mountaineers at noon, followed by Joe Tessitore, Greg McElroy and Paul Carcaterra announcing No. 12 North Carolina at Boston College at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. Tessitore is a BC alum, and his son, John, is the backup punter and starting holder for the Eagles.
At noon on ESPN, No. 3 Florida plays host to South Carolina with Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek and Marty Smith announcing the action. On ESPN Radio, the game will be called by Sean Kelley and Barrett Jones. At 3:30 p.m., No. 17 Oklahoma State faces off against Kansas in Lawrence, with Dave Pasch, Mike Golic, Sr. and Quint Kessenich on the call.
ESPN2 will spotlight a trio of ranked teams this weekend. On Friday, Louisiana Tech travels to Provo for a contest against No. 22 BYU. Dave Flemming, Andre Ware and Stormy Buonantony will be on the call for that matchup at 9 p.m. At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Anish Shroff, Tom Luginbill, Kris Budden will call No. 25 Memphis and SMU on the network, followed by Tulsa at No. 11 UCF with Jason Benetti, Rod Gilmore and Lericia Harris announcing that matchup.
On ACC Network, top-ranked Clemson will play host to Virginia – a rematch of the 2019 ACC Championship game – at 8 p.m., with the crew of Dave O'Brien, Tim Hasselbeck and Katie George calling the action for ACC Network Primetime Football. At noon, No. 24 Pittsburgh welcomes NC State to the Steel City, as Wes Durham, Roddy Jones and Eric Wood will be on the mic.
On SEC Network, a triad of Top 25 teams bookend the action on Saturday for Week 2 of SEC play. SEC Saturday Night sees No. 20 LSU mosey to Music City to take on Vanderbilt at 7:30 p.m., with Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers and Cole Cubelic on the call. At noon, Dave Neal, DJ Shockley and Dawn Davenport will team up for Missouri at No. 21 Tennessee on SECN. Over on SEC Network Alternate at 7:30 p.m., Arkansas travels to Starkville to take on No. 16 Mississippi State with Roy Philpott, Kelly Stouffer and Tera Talmadge announcing the action.