College Football Live
College Football Live is a show that airs weekdays during the college football season on ESPN or ESPN2, and ESPNU. Its premiere was on Monday, July 23, 2007. Wendi Nix serves as the lead host, and it also features ESPN college football analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Paul Finebaum, David Pollack, Trevor Matich and others. College Football Live also features Live interviews with college coaches and players.
| College Football Live | |
|---|---|
| Genre | College football |
| Starring | Wendi Nix Kirk Herbstreit Paul Finebaum David Pollack |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Production company | ESPN |
| Distributor | The Walt Disney Company |
| Release | |
| Original network | ESPN (2007–present) |
| Original release | May 23, 2007 – present |
Format
As previous host Rece Davis mentioned in the opening of the debut, College Football Live aims to be the most fan-interactive show on television, featuring email questions and video segments sent in by fans on every show. After the opening music and graphics, the show shifts into the ESPN side studio and Davis and the analysts open the show debating a top story of the day. After their segment has completed, they send it to Joe Schad or another insider on the situation who gives their take on it and breaks other information. Then, the segment "Live Feedback" takes place and questions sent in by viewers are answered by the personalities. After this segment, there are two rotating blocks, which on some days are two interviews but on other days, could be debate, highlights or breaking news.
At some point during the broadcast, the segment "EA Sports Simulator" is shown. In this segment, a key game is simulated on the video game NCAA Football 08 and highlights and score are shown. After this, a short debate segment is held before the closing segment "Extra Points" which is the same as "Live feedback" except done with a timer. As Rece Davis' trademark opening line he says "and here's (random college mascot) to give me the new questions". The show is supposed to be the college version of NFL Live, but is actually more similar to NASCAR Now in that it focuses more on guests and debate than breaking news. It also is similar to the show in that the analysts do not appear on the whole program and only appear for the debate segments.
College Football Live aired with a new format beginning in 2016. Samantha Ponder and Molly McGrath became its lead hosts on a rotating basis, with Jen Lada, Adnan Virk and Chris Cotter also anchoring. Instead of the host and contributors all being based in one studio, only the lead host remained studio-based, with analysts and contributors being shown from different locations.[1]
By the day
- Monday: "The Insiders"—weighing in with the latest news, reaction and analysis from the weekend's games; A look back at the best plays of the weekend
- Tuesday: Live interviews with coaches
- Wednesday: "Conference Calls" with college football reporters from around the country.
- Thursday: "Recruiting Trail" with Tom Luginbill providing the latest news on the top high school recruits; Live preview of ESPN’s Thursday night game from game announcers
- Friday: Picks and previews of Saturday’s top games; College GameDay crew live from the location of Saturday’s show; Live preview of ESPN’s Friday night game
Segments
- Senior Thesis- follows several top senior players through a personal video diary
- Sound Off- will feature home viewer-generated video on varopis topics
- Live Feedback– Fans post comments online during the program and have them posted live on the air
- Extra Points– Analysts answer e-mails and questions at the end of each show
Personalities
Hosts
- Wendi Nix (2020–present)
- Molly McGrath (2016–present)
- Jen Lada (2016–present)
- Cassidy Hubbarth (2016–present)
- Chris Cotter (2016–present)
Analysts
- Todd Blackledge (2007–present)
- Desmond Howard
- Trevor Matich (2007–present)
- Kirk Herbstreit (2007–present)
- Ed Cunningham (2007–present)
- Jesse Palmer (2007–present)
- Todd McShay (2007–present)
- Andre Ware (2007–present)
- Brock Huard (2008–present)
- Joe Tessitore (2016–present)
- David Pollack (2016–present)
- Ryan Leaf (2019–present)
- Emmanuel Acho (2019–present)
Contributors
- Desmond Howard¹ (2007–present)
- Joe Schad¹ (2007–present)
- Tom Luginbill (2007–present)
- Rachel Nichols (2007–present)
- Mark Schlabach (2007–present)
- Ivan Maisel (2007–present)
- Rod Gilmore (2007–present)
- Steve Cyphers (2007–present)
- Paul Finebaum¹ (2016–present)
- Greg McElroy¹ (2016–present)
- Marcus Spears¹ (2016–present)
(2016–2018)
- Joey Galloway (2014–present)
- Shelley Smith
¹ also an analyst
Former
- Erin Andrews (2010–2012) now with Fox Sports
- Bonnie Bernstein (2008); now a co-host of The Michael Kay Show on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York
- Ryan Burr (2008-2010); now with the Golf Channel
- Jim Donnan (2007–2014)
- Doug Flutie (2007–present); now with NBC Sports
- Pat Forde (2007–2011)
- Bob Griese (2007–2011)
- Craig James (2007–2011)
- Lou Holtz (2007–2015)
- Danny Kanell (2010–2016)
- Erik Kuselias (2007-2010); now with NBC Sports and NBCSN
- John Saunders (2007–2016) (Thursday and Friday); deceased
- Robert Smith¹ (2007–2016); now with Fox Sports
- Chris Spielman (2007–2016); now with Fox Sports
- Matt Winer (2007–2009) now with Turner Sports
- Mike Yam (2011)
- Rece Davis (2007–2015) (host of College GameDay)
- Chris Fowler (2010–2015)
- Dari Nowkhah (2007–2015)
- Brent Musburger (2007–2015)
- Wendi Nix (2007–2015)
- Jonathan Coachman (2009–2015)
- Mark May (2007–2015)
- Lee Corso (2007–2015)
- Samantha Ponder (2016) (host of Sunday NFL Countdown)
- Anthony "Booger" McFarland¹
- Adnan Virk (2016–2017); now with DAZN
Producers
- Scott Harves (2007–2009)
- Tom Engle (2009)
- Michael Epstein (2009–2011)
- James Dunn (2011–present)