ESPN Unveils Broadcast Teams For Bowl Season

ESPN’s industry-leading coverage of the 2023 college football postseason will feature a 40-game bowl schedule, culminating with the exclusive presentation of the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T (7:30 p.m. ET) at NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday, Jan. 8.

The CFP begins on Monday, Jan. 1 with the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential featuring No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Alabama (5 p.m.) from Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., followed by the CFP Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl between No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Texas (8:45 p.m.) from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Both CFP semifinals and the National Championship will air on ESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes, with alternate presentations available across ESPN platforms.

ESPN’s overall Bowl Season slate commences Saturday, Dec. 16, and completes the extensive 1,000+ game schedule carried across ESPN platforms this year. All December bowl games will be simulcast on ESPN+ and additional production details for both the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six will be announced in the coming days.

Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit Call The Granddaddy of Them All; Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy Pair Up in The Big Easy
In the broadcast booth, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will call the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential, while Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy team up for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Fowler and Herbstreit have called a CFP Semifinal together all 10 years of the system. McDonough is calling his sixth consecutive CFP Semifinal, while McElroy will commentate on his first CFP Semifinal on ESPN following several semifinal assignments on ESPN Radio.

Veteran CFP Reporters Holly Rowe, Laura Rutledge and Molly McGrath Set for Semifinal Sidelines; Katie George Makes CFP Semifinal Debut
ESPN will utilize reporters Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge at the Rose Bowl Game, Rowe’s 10th CFP Semifinal on either TV or radio and Rutledge’s sixth. At the Sugar Bowl, Molly McGrath and Katie George will report, McGrath’s third TV appearance in the CFP Semifinals and George’s first CFP assignment. Not a newcomer to the New Year’s Six, however, George was a sideline reporter for last year’s Capital One Orange Bowl.

New Year’s Six Takes Center Stage
ESPN’s presentation of the New Year’s Six will kick off Friday, Dec. 29 with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Missouri and Ohio State. Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Tom Luginbill are set for the SEC-Big Ten tussle from Arlington.

On Saturday, Dec. 30, Ole Miss and Penn State start things off at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with Mark Jones, Louis Riddick and Quint Kessenich on the call from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Capital One Orange Bowl follows featuring Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer and Katie George announcing the SEC-ACC action between Georgia and Florida State from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Fla.

On New Year’s Day, the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl begins NY6 play with Liberty and Oregon facing off from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Bob Wischusen, Robert Griffin III and Kris Budden team up for the TV commentary.

ESPN Radio Covers the CFP Semifinals
Joe Tessitore, Dusty Dvoracek and Quint Kessenich will call the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential from Pasadena, while in New Orleans, ESPN Radio’s top team of Marc Kestecher, Kelly Stouffer and Ian Fitzsimmons will announce the Allstate Sugar Bowl for ESPN Radio. Anchoring the pre/half/post coverage from the Bristol studios will be Kevin Winter and Trevor Matich. ESPN Radio will broadcast all New Year’s Six games, with all assignments included below.

ESPN Events Begins the Bowl Season
ESPN Events announced the matchups for its 17 owned and operated college football bowl games for the 2023-24 postseason. Bowl Season will begin Saturday, Dec. 16, with the Myrtle Beach Bowl (11 a.m., ESPN) in Conway, S.C., the first of four ESPN Events bowls that day – followed by the Cricket Celebration Bowl (noon, ABC), the Avocados from Mexico Cure Bowl (3:30 p.m., ABC) and the Isleta New Mexico Bowl (5:45 p.m., ESPN). Six bowls will be played the following Saturday, Dec. 23, the busiest day of the ESPN Events postseason schedule. All 17 ESPN Events bowl games will be televised on ABC or ESPN and simulcast for the first time on ESPN+, the leading sports streaming service. ESPN Deportes will offer Spanish-language presentations of at least nine games with additional Spanish-language telecasts for the Isleta New Mexico and Famous Toastery bowls available on ESPN+ and ESPN3. ESPN Radio will broadcast six ESPN Events bowl games. Full details.

Additional Postseason Highlights: A Celebration Bowl to Celebrate: 

• Tiffany Greene and Jay Walker will once again call the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Saturday, Dec. 16. The duo has a unique opportunity to kick off the college football postseason as their respective alma maters are set to face off on ABC. Greene, a FAMU alum, and Walker, a Howard football great, will team up with Quint Kessenich from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Additionally, Walker is a finalist for this year’s induction class for the Black College Football Hall of Fame, which is announced on Dec. 14. More details.
• A Rose Bowl Game for the Records: Lead ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit is set to be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame and will be honored in the 135th Rose Parade presented by Honda and on the field during the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential. Herbstreit has become synonymous with the Rose Bowl Game as he is set to call his 16th edition of The Granddaddy of Them All on New Year’s Day, surpassing Keith Jackson with the most broadcasts in the history of the game. Herbstreit served as the analyst on ABC from 2007-10 and more recently as the analyst on 11 of the last 13 ESPN telecasts.
• Fowler Does Double Duty: Lead ESPN college football play-by-play commentator Chris Fowler will have quite a 72-hour stretch leading into his CFP Championship assignment. Fowler will call ESPN’s Week 18 Saturday game and then head to Houston for his 10th CFP National Championship. Should Alabama advance to the national title game, Fowler’s NFL on ESPN teammate and SEC Nation host Laura Rutledge will share his football flight plans.
• Seattle Standard: ESPN/ABC sideline reporter Molly McGrath is more than familiar with CFP semifinalist Washington, who faces off against CFP debutante Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. McGrath has long been based in Seattle, home of the Huskies.
• Queen City Commentators: The Famous Toastery Bowl and Duke’s Mayo Bowl each feature Charlotteans on the Queen City calls. For the Western Kentucky-Old Dominion matchup on Monday, Dec. 18, Tom Luginbill will serve as the analyst from Jerry Richardson Stadium. On Wednesday, Dec. 27, Mike Couzens and Charles Arbuckle – both Charlotte residents – will provide radio commentary for the North Carolina/West Virginia showdown from Bank of American Stadium.
• Boston Bound: Boston College alum and BC Eagles football great Mark Herzlich will once again provide analysis for the Wasabi Fenway Bowl (Thursday, Dec. 28, 11 a.m.), featuring his alma mater against SMU.
• Viva Las Vegas: Sideline reporter and Las Vegas native Stormy Buonantony boasts two Vegas-themed assignments this postseason. First, Buonantony will team up with Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy for the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl from Allegiant Stadium on ABC. She’ll then pair up with regular commentator teammates Beth Mowins and Kirk Morrison for UNLV’s appearance in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against Kansas (Tuesday, Dec. 26, 9 p.m.).
• Birmingham Broadcaster: ESPN/SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic is set to commentate the 76 Birmingham Bowl between Troy and Duke on Saturday, Dec. 23. Cubelic is a longtime Birmingham resident and will team up with regular play-by-play teammate Tom Hart and fellow Auburn grad Taylor Davis for the ABC call.
• Return Trip to Detroit: Reporter Tori Petry has the opportunity to call the Quick Lane Bowl from Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions. Prior to her role with ESPN, Petry spent seven years as studio host, sideline broadcaster and feature reporter for the Lions.
• A True Cotton Bowl Classic: The Voice of the Dallas Cowboys Brad Sham will once again provide play-by-play commentary for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on ESPN Radio. The Arlington action is part of Sham’s Cowboys’ tenure since 1976.
• Multiplatform: For the first time ever, ESPN+ will simulcast all December bowl games. In addition, ESPN Radio will broadcast another record 22 games, and ESPN Deportes will present more than 30 Spanish-language games on either ESPN Deportes or ESPN3, featuring Eitan Benezra, Guillermo Celis, Sebastian Christiansen, Kenneth Garay, Maico Pasquel, Rigoberto Plascencia, Alex Pombo, Ciro Procuna, Ramiro Pruneda, Javier Trejo Garay, Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega, with additional production details to follow.