ESPN College Football

Did You Know?

• The first live regular-season night game on ESPN featured No. 17 Florida versus No. 10 Miami on September 1, 1984.
• ESPN's 2012 deal for the College Football Playoff system was valued at around $470 million per year.
• In 2024, ESPN began using a new on-air design for college football that included a centered scoreboard and sidebars called 'blitz towers', also adopted by Monday Night Football.

History

ESPN’s college football coverage began in 1979 with tape-delayed games, the first being Colorado versus Oregon. At the time, the NCAA held exclusive TV rights, so live broadcasts were off-limits. Bowl games, however, fell outside NCAA control, which let ESPN air the 1982 Independence Bowl between Kansas State and Wisconsin live via a simulcast with Mizlou Television Network—marking the network’s first live football telecast. A 1984 Supreme Court ruling (NCAA v. Board of Regents) freed schools to negotiate their own TV deals, and ESPN jumped on it. That September, it aired its first live regular-season game: BYU against Pittsburgh. Later that same night, it broadcast its first live regular-season night game, featuring No. 17 Florida versus No. 10 Miami. Over time, ESPN and ESPN2 settled into a pattern: noon games, often featuring a Big Ten matchup, and primetime slots typically showcasing ACC or SEC teams. As ESPN expanded its network family, game counts rose. With ESPNU’s launch in 2005, the combined networks carried over 300 games. By 2007, that number hit 450, and ESPN Radio added a weekly college football game for the first time. That season also started with 25 hours of college football programming. ESPNU soon began covering spring intramural scrimmages, and in 2008, College GameDay broadcast from Florida Field before the Gators’ spring game. Starting in 2007, ESPN sublicensed games from Fox Sports Net for the Big 12 and Pac-10 conferences, though those games couldn’t air during the reverse mirror window. In 2008, ESPN aired over 400 games. The 2010 season brought a four-year exclusive deal for the Bowl Championship Series, putting every BCS game on ESPN. That same year, ESPN launched Goal Line, a channel that switches between live games to highlight the most exciting action, much like NFL RedZone.

Coverage

ESPN’s college football coverage kicks off in the spring with Spring Football games, wrapped up by the show College Football Final. When the regular season arrives, ESPN picks Thursday night’s biggest matchups, while ESPN2 handles Friday night games from smaller Division I schools. By late October and November, Tuesday and Wednesday nights—mostly on ESPN2—are filled with Mid-American Conference action. Weekend games, aside from the regular season, are usually chosen one or two weeks ahead. ABC gets first dibs on games from all major conferences; starting in 2024, that means the top three SEC games, which ABC took over from CBS. ESPN and ESPN2 used to show ABC games in a reverse mirror format. Both channels also air other midweek and Sunday games, often from lesser-known conferences, though Sunday games are rare because they clash with ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and the network’s pro football coverage, including the NFL and Canadian football. ESPN Radio broadcasts one weekly game plus selected College Football Playoff bowl games, including all bowl and national championship games. ESPNU typically runs five games per week. Before it shut down in December 2021, ESPN Classic aired games throughout the year. Saturdays during the regular season start at 9:00 AM ET with College GameDay, a three-hour preview show that leads into the first games at noon ET on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. A second wave of games kicks off around 3:30 PM, including an SEC game on ABC. After that, Saturday Night Football on ABC begins at 7:30 PM each Saturday evening, a setup that’s been in place since 2017. College Football Saturday Primetime starts around 7:00 PM, with another game on ESPN2 at the same time. Late-night games on ESPN and ESPN2 start around 10:30 PM ET, hitting prime time on the West Coast. Modelo Kickoff Week marks the first weekend of the season, featuring the Aflac Kickoff Game, the Duke’s Mayo Classic, and other non-conference matchups. One game airs on ABC on Sunday night, and another on ESPN on Labor Day night. After that first week, the NFL season begins, taking over those slots with NBC’s Sunday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Non-game action

ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from the most important game of the week, or a similarly notable one, nearly every year since 1993. In 2010, the program grew to three hours, with the first hour shown on ESPNU. Since 1990, the network has produced the show live from Orlando’s Boardwalk, where it hands out several awards. The Heisman Trophy ceremony, aired by ESPN from New York City since 1994, runs about an hour and includes chats with past winners and nominees, often joined by their families or coaches.