ESPN College Sports Update – Sept. 10

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ESPN College Sports Update – Sept. 10

Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter September 10, 2013

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ESPN Posts its Most-Viewed College Football Regular-Season Saturday Ever

  • ESPN 15-Hour Saturday Average Outdraws Competition’s Most-Viewed Game
  • ESPN & ABC Televise Weekend’s Four Most-Viewed Games
  • ESPN Wins Night Among Viewers and Key Demographics
  • ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPNU Each Top Competition for Saturday
  • Millions Go to ESPN Mobile Offerings
  • Birmingham Top Market

ESPN led all networks covering college football in week two of the season, giving the network its most-viewed Saturday ever during the regular-season (August to December). ESPN averaged 3,840,000 viewers in the 24-hour day-part (beginning at 6 a.m. ET), surpassing the previous high of 3,314,000 viewers set on September 12, 2009.

ESPN’s nearly 15 hours of college football studio and game content on Saturday – beginning at 9 a.m. ET with the three-hour College GameDay Built by The Home Depot to the last whistle of Notre Dame at Michigan at 11:45 p.m. – averaged 5,557,000 viewers and a 3.5 US rating.

Full Release

ESPN College GameDay Headed to College Station for No. 1 Alabama at No. 6 Texas A&M;
SportsCenter and Studio Shows to Originate from Site Starting Thursday
ESPN’s iconic college football pregame show College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will travel to College Station, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 14, for its three-hour show (9 a.m.–noon) of features and analysis on ESPN. The set will originate from Simpson Drill Field on the campus of Texas A&M University, site of the highly anticipated SEC matchup of the two-time defending national champion Alabama, ranked No. 1 in the country, against Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel and No. 6 Texas A&M.

Hosted by Chris Fowler, the GameDay crew consists of analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack with reporting by Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, Scott Van Pelt and Gene Wojciechowski.

It is the fourth visit to College Station for ESPN’s popular college football pregame show, now in its 27th season. The three previous visits: Nov. 4, 2006 (No. 18 Oklahoma def. No. 21 Texas A&M, 17-16); Nov. 11, 2000 (No. 1 Oklahoma def. No. 24 Texas A&M, 35-31) and Sept. 8, 2013 (No. 24 Florida def. Texas A&M, 20-17).

In addition, several studio shows will originate from College Station, including SportsCenter segments throughout the weekend. College Football Live will air Thursday, Sept. 12 (ESPN2), and Friday, Sept. 13 (ESPNU), from the GameDay set at 5 p.m., plus the Thursday ESPN College Football Primetime pregame show at 7 p.m.

ABC Tripleheader & ESPN Quadrupleheader Features Ranked College Football Teams
The third week of the college football season will include 37 games across ESPN networks, highlighted by a tripleheader on ABC and four games on ESPN, with at least one ranked team in each telecast on Saturday, Sept. 14. Schedule highlights for September 14:

  • ABC will kick off its day at noon ET with No. 16 UCLA at No. 23 Nebraska in a matchup of ranked teams in the Pac-12 and Big Ten, respectively. The tripleheader will continue with No. 2 Oregon against undefeated Tennessee at 3:30 p.m. followed by No. 21 Notre Dame at instate rival Purdue at 8 p.m.
  • The ESPN quadrupleheader will start with No. 7 Louisville at instate rival Kentucky at noon followed by No. 10 Florida State against Nevada at 3:30 p.m., No. 13 South Carolina against Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. and No. 20 Wisconsin at Arizona State at 10:30 p.m.
  • ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise prime-time games involving SEC teams, both at 7 p.m.: Mississippi State at Auburn on ESPN2 and Kent State of the Mid-American Conference at No. 8 LSU.
  • The noon ESPN2 telecast will showcase an intrastate matchup pitting No. 14 Oklahoma against Tulsa.

ESPNU Goes Inside Louisville, Baylor, Alabama and Texas A&M Football Programs
ESPNU will highlight Louisville, Baylor, Alabama and Texas A&M football programs through ESPNU Road Trip, All-Access and Inside the Program this week.

ESPNU Road Trip: Eastern Kentucky vs. Louisville Presented by Dr. Pepper trucked through the Cardinals’ stomping grounds last weekend to see the instate matchhup from The ‘Ville. During Wednesday night’s show airing at 7:30 p.m., co-hosts Niki Noto and Ali Nejad will toss the football with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, tour Papa John’s Cardinals Stadium and learn to play field hockey with the women’s team. Always looking to experience every aspect of tradition in a college community, the duo couldn’t resist a riding lesson from three-time Kentucky Derby winner and Hall-of-Fame jockey Calvin Borel at Churchill Downs. They then took part in the Card March, a tailgating and tradition of Louisville football.

ESPNU Road Trip puts their title to the test in Texas for next week’s show. They go road tripping from Thursday’s ESPN College Football Primetime game in Lubbock (No. 24 TCU at Texas Tech) to Austin for Saturday’s Ole Miss at Texas matchup.

On All-Access will take viewers inside practices and meetings with wired coaches and players from the Baylor football team on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Inside the Program closes out the week, airing Friday at 5:30 p.m., with interviews from behind-the-scenes interviews from Alabama and Texas A&M as the teams prepare for Saturday’s big showdown.

ESPN.com: Alabama-Texas A&M, Bear Bryant’s 100th Birthday, What Makes Nick Saban Tick and More 
ESPN.com has everything college football covered with game previews and recaps, expert analysis, blog posts and more. This week’s highlights:

Monday

  • On The Mark – Mark Schlabach looks at some big-name programs struggling out of the gate because in the Year of the QB they have not found the answer behind center.

Tuesday

  • BMOC looks at Penn State, Texas A&M in the SEC, Jameis Winston, Texas, picking the college quarterback, what we know after two weeks and more (Gene Wojciechowski)
  • Why can’t Manziel play the bad guy? (Kevin Van Valkenburg)
  • ESPN The Magazine: Ryan McGee on the impact moments of week 2 – Florida vs. Miami

Wednesday

  • On Bear Bryant’s 100th birthday, Ivan Maisel takes a look at how the myth of the legendary Alabama coach has changed.
  • Top 25 overview – a quick look at all top 25 games

Thursday

  • GameDay Kickoff – The atmosphere for Alabama/Texas A&M at Kyle Field should be off the charts, and look at other top games (Rece Davis)

Friday

  • What makes Nick Saban tick, despite titles, legacy, etc., the only thing that’s been on his mind for the last eight months is that Texas A&M came into his place and beat him. (Chris Low)

ESPN Expands NCAA Wrestling Championship Coverage: Every Mat to be Shown for the First Time
ESPN’s long-standing commitment to expanding coverage of wrestling continues with plans for the 2014 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in Oklahoma City March 20- 22. For the first time, live coverage of every mat during the tournament will be available on an ESPN network. For the last five years, ESPN3 has carried an exclusive four-screen, four-mat viewing experience unique to wrestling. The expansion will create an unprecedented eight-mat viewing experience on ESPN3 for the early rounds and six-mat coverage for the Semifinals, with full match coverage continuing on ESPN3, ESPNU or ESPN and WatchESPN for the Semifinal, Medal and Championship rounds.

ESPN began airing NCAA wrestling championships in 1980, its first year as a network, and has provided live coverage of every round since 2011.

“There is an increasing appetite for the NCAA Wrestling Championship from the sport’s avid fan base, especially on our digital platforms,” said Brent Colborne, ESPN director of programming and acquisitions. “We continue to look for new ways to serve wrestling fans and live coverage of every mat on ESPN3 will provide an unprecedented amount of comprehensive coverage for the event.”

The championship continues to see success across ESPN with a 55 percent increase year-to-year growth in viewers for the 2013 final match and 12.6 million live minutes viewed on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, up 13 percent.  ESPN networks commitment to the championship extends through 2024.

ESPN Images: Slideshow of the Week

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Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter September 10, 2013
Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal

Rachel Margolis Siegal

A part of the Internal Communications team at ESPN, I began with the network in 2010 as part of the College Sports PR team. Always an avid sports fan and not an athlete – I grew up a huge fan of the Hartford Whalers, while also watching my brother compete at different levels. I became the manager of several high school sports teams and continued that hobby into college. While at Quinnipiac, I worked in the Sports Information Department, which led me to a summer internship at the New Haven Ravens, a AA baseball team, and an eventual job with the Athletic Communications Department at the University of Connecticut. After my five-year stint at Connecticut, I spent six years as Director of Communications at the BIG EAST Conference in Providence, R.I. before joining ESPN.
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