Behind the Mic: ESPN Unfurls Long List of College Football Playoff Talent, Re-Signs Two Notable Baseball Faces By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor
Friday, December 13, 2019 - 1:23 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Behind the Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, ESPN readies for the college football playoff, the network extends the deals of two baseball personalities, and CBS Sports HQ adds three names to studio list.
ESPN's postseason college football coverage is highlighted by the exclusive presentation of the College Football Playoff, which begins with the Semifinals on Saturday, Dec. 28. The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will feature No. 1 LSU vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (4 p.m. ET) from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. The Peach Bowl precedes the CFP Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson (8 p.m.) from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The winners will play in the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T (8 p.m.) from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Monday, Jan. 13.
In the broadcasting booth, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will call the Fiesta Bowl, while Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge team up for the Peach Bowl. Fowler, Herbstreit, and Blackledge have called a CFP Semifinal all six years of the system, with Fowler and Herbstreit working together in each of those years. McDonough is calling his second consecutive CFP Semifinal with Blackledge.
ESPN will utilize reporters Maria Taylor and Tom Rinaldi at the Fiesta Bowl, their third and sixth CFP Semifinal, respectively. At the Peach Bowl, Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge will report, also their sixth and third, respectively. Taylor will be with Clemson, Rinaldi reports on Ohio State, while Rowe is with LSU and Rutledge has Oklahoma.
Fowler, Herbstreit, Taylor, and Rinaldi will head to Pasadena to call the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual between No. 6 Oregon and No. 8 Wisconsin (5 p.m.), and McDonough, Blackledge, and Rowe travel to New Orleans for the Allstate Sugar Bowl featuring No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 7 Baylor (8:30 p.m.) on New Year's Day. At the Rose Bowl, Taylor will report on the Ducks and Rinaldi on the Badgers.
ESPN's presentation of the New Year's Six will begin with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between No. 16 Memphis and No. 10 Penn State (noon) on Saturday, Dec. 28, which will lead into the CFP Semifinals. The Capital One Orange Bowl between No. 9 Florida and No. 24 Virginia (8 p.m.) on Monday, Dec. 30, will precede the New Year's Day bowls and follow the CFP Semifinals.
Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek, and Olivia Dekker will call the Nittany Lions-Tigers matchup, with Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay, and Molly McGrath on the Gators-Cavaliers.
Levy, Griese, McShay, and McGrath will also call the CFP Semifinal at the Peach Bowl on ESPN Radio, while Sean Kelley, Barrett Jones, and Ian Fitzsimmons call the Fiesta Bowl for the network.
Herbstreit calls the Las Vegas Bowl featuring No. 19 Boise State vs. Washington with Bob Wischusen and McGrath, airing in primetime (7:30 p.m.) on Saturday, Dec. 21 on ABC
Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, and Tom Luginbill call the Vrbo Citrus Bowl between No. 14 Michigan vs. No. 13 Alabama (1 p.m.) on ABC
Jason Benetti, Rod Gilmore, and Quint Kessenich call the Outback Bowl featuring No. 18 Minnesota vs. No. 12 Auburn (1 p.m.) on ESPN
Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky, and Allison Williams call the Camping World Bowl between No. 15 Notre Dame vs. Iowa State (noon) who are playing each other for the first time, December 28 on ABC.
Ryan Leaf will make his ESPN bowl debut calling his alma mater as Washington State plays Air Force in the Cheez-It Bowl (10:15 p.m.) Friday, Dec. 27 on ESPN. Leaf teams with Clay Matvick on the call
ESPN has re-signed veteran Major League Baseball analyst Eduardo P rez to a multi-year extension. P rez will remain one of ESPN's signature baseball analysts, contributing to both event and studio coverage. P rez first joined ESPN in 2006 and served as an analyst through 2010. He returned to ESPN in 2014.
P rez will continue his game analyst role for ESPN's Monday Night Baseball and its coverage of MLB Opening Day, Holiday Baseball and many of ESPN's international MLB telecasts. P rez will also remain the primary analyst on ESPN's Statcast-driven alternate presentations for the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and its Wild Card coverage.
The versatile P rez will regularly appear on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter, MLB on ESPN Radio, and other news and information platforms. He will also continue his analyst role for the Men's College World Series.
In recent years, P rez has become a staple of ESPN's international MLB game telecasts, helping to lead coverage of the 2016 spring training game in Cuba, regular-season games in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and for the Japan Opening Series in 2019
ESPN has also reached an extension with Major League Baseball analyst Doug Glanville. The nine-year MLB veteran will continue to provide expert insight on ESPNstudio programs including Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter.
Glanvillefirst joined ESPN as an analyst in 2010 for seven years and returned in March of 2019 as a contributor to ESPN studio programming. He spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, and also played for the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers. Glanville tallied 1,100 hits throughout his career and retired in 2004 with his streak of 293 games without an error intact
CBS Sports HQ has also expanded its talent roster with three new anchors.
Brandon Baylor joins CBS Sports HQ from WFTS in Tampa, FL, where he had s
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
Behind the Mic: ESPN Unfurls Long List of College Football Playoff Talent, Re-Signs Two Notable Baseball Faces By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor 
