ESPN College Sports Update: Aug. 28, 2012

College GameDay: Headed Back to Cowboys Classic
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot – coming off its most-watched season ever – will return Saturday, Sept. 1, live from the Cowboys Classic at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, beginning at 9 a.m. on ESPNU and 10 a.m. on ESPN. On display will be top-10 teams Alabama and Michigan battling as part of the weekly Saturday Night Football presented by Windows series at 8 p.m. on ABC. The GameDay set, with an enhanced look for its 26^th season, will be located outside the state-of-the-art facility.

Hosted by Chris Fowler, GameDay will once again feature Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack during the 10 a.m. – noon hours on ESPN. Samantha Steele joins the first hour on ESPNU with Pollack, and will also contribute reports, interviews and features throughout the final two hours with reporter Tom Rinaldi. Herbstreit will be joined by veteran play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger in the booth for the primetime game.

Follow on Twitter: @CollegeGameDay

College Football: Top 25 Highest-Rated Markets: Birmingham, Oklahoma City & Columbus Top Three in 2011
As fans across the country prepare for the start of the 2012 college football season, ESPN examined the ratings for its games telecasts in the 56 metered markets from 2000 to 2011. The results show the Top 25 markets from 2011, how the markets compare to this year’s Top 25 teams and overall trends from the past 12 years. Additional information

Spotlight: ESPN’s Newest College Football Reporter Brett McMurphy
Brett McMurphy joined ESPN in 2012 as a college football insider covering and reporting on the national level. Prior to ESPN, McMurphy worked at CBSSports.com, AOL FanHouse and 22 years at the Tampa Tribune.

He comes to ESPN with a strong college football background that includes being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news category after uncovering a story about a college football coach who struck a player, lied about it, covered it up and tampered with witnesses in the school’s investigation. McMurphy received seven best writing awards from the Football Writers Association of America between 2003 and 2010.

McMurphy took a few minutes to talk about his new position at ESPN, the future of college football and what drives him to find to find breaking news. Full interview

College Football: Predictions, Predictions and a Jam-Packed Schedule

A deep bench of ESPN college football analysts weighed in with their BCS conference predictions as well as the teams that will square off in the Discover BCS National Championship Game (Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN Radio). The season schedule begins with 44 games in five days as part of the fifth annual DICK’s Sports Goods Kickoff Week August 30-September 3. Full list of predictions

Join the ESPN college football conversation and follow on Twitter: @CollegeGameDay; @ESPNCFB; @CFBLive; @ESPNU

ESPNU Goes All-Access at Vanderbilt and NC State
Before the lights go on at the Vanderbilt stadium on Thursday night, ESPNU will take you inside the practices and coaching meetings that have led to the opening kickoff games of the 2012 season.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m., ESPNU All-Access is wired with Vanderbilt second-year head coach James Franklin at practice, in talks about siblings with quarterback Jordan Rodgers and stops at breakfast, meetings and workouts with the Commodores. On Wednesday at 6 p.m., get an insider’s perspective on why some ESPN analysts are saying NC State could be an early upset for Tennessee this Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPNU). All-Access visits the Wolfpacks’ training room, gets a tour of the facility and is wired at practice with head coach Tom O’Brien and his assistants.

The ESPNU All-Access series will air Tuesdays at 7 p.m. highlighting various programs throughout the college football season.

Follow on Twitter: @ESPNU

College Football Live: Daily Destination for All the Headlines
College Football Live continues to be the daily destination for college football news and updates at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN and 4 p.m. on ESPNU. The show primarily utilizes three hosts – Joe Tessitore (Monday & Wednesday), Fowler (Tuesday & Friday) and John Saunders (Thursday), and originates from the site of College GameDay most Fridays.

Included in the rotation of expert analysts are Howard (Monday) and Herbstreit (Tuesday), who are available via satellite weekly. Robert Smith and Trevor Matich will be live in-studio this week.

Follow on Twitter: @CFBLive and @ESPNU

Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher Stars in College GameDay Spots
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot is back with a new slate of humorous commercials with host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard. In the first spot, the GameDay crew earns tomahawk decals from Seminoles head coach Jimbo Fisher, while in the second commercial the group tries to team up with Corso for a game of spades.

ESPN Launches All-New ESPN College Football App
The new ESPN College Football app is now available at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Redesigned from the ground up for both Android and iOS, including an iPad-optimized version, the app will provide fans with unprecedented coverage of the biggest stories in college football and breaking news for all Football Bowl Series teams. More information

College Basketball: Television Schedules are Released as Season Approaches
With the college football season kicking off this week, we can’t forget that the college basketball season is only six weeks away from Midnight Madness events tipping off. Several conference schedules have been released with more to come in the next few weeks – BIG EAST, Big Ten, Pac-12 and the entire men’s and women’s schedules.

ACC; Big 12; SEC; Women’s Big Monday
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ESPN College Sports Update: Aug. 28, 2012

Press Release