ESPN’s flagship college football program will air live from the campus of Penn State Saturday.
The weekly college football program will broadcast live from Beaver Stadium in State College, PA. The broadcast will preview the week’s headline matchup between the No. 18 Penn State and No. 3 Ohio State.
Rece Davis will anchor the broadcast, which will air from 9 a.m. – noon ET. Kirk Herbstreit, David Pollack, Maria Taylor and Chris “The Bear” Fallica will join the broadcast for additional commentary. Lee Corso and Desmond Howard will join the program remotely from their homes due to COVID-19 restrictions.
OHIO STATE WEEK 1
Ohio State (1-0, 1-0) opened its season last weekend with a 52-17 win over Nebraska while Penn State (0-1, 0-1) was upset by Indiana in that matchup, 36-35.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields was 20-21 in last weekend’s opener for Ohio State, throwing for 276 yards and two touchdowns. At the same time, Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez shined, too, going 12-15 for 105 yards.
Ohio State racked up a total of 498 yards to Nebraska’s total of 377 yards. Penalties also impacted Nebraska. The Cornhuskers incurred eight penalties for a total of 90 lost yards while Ohio State totaled three penalties for 14 yards lost.
Ohio State also outperformed Nebraska on third and fourth down conversions. The Buckeyes went 8-13 on third down conversions and 2-2 on fourth down conversions.
On the other side of the ball, Nebraska was 4-10 on third down conversions, and had no fourth down conversions.
First downs went in favor of the Buckeyes, too, with Ohio State totaling 28 first downs to Nebraska’s 17. Approximately 13 of Ohio State’s first downs were from rushing, 12 from passing, and three from penalties against Nebraska.
Rushing yardage earned Nebraska 11 first downs while passing helped the Cornhuskers gain another six first downs. Penalties accounted for none of Nebraska’s first downs.
In regards to scoring, the Buckeyes held the Cornhuskers to one touchdown each in the first and second quarters, and only a field goal in the third. Ohio State’s defense kept Nebraska’s offense from reaching the end zone in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s offense relied on a field goal only once throughout the game, and scored touchdowns twice in three of four quarters.
Nebraska is scheduled to face #9 Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on Fox Sports 1.
PENN STATE WEEK 1
Despite totaling more overall yardage, passing yards, and rushing yards than Indiana, Penn State dropped its opener to the Hoosiers 36-35.
Penalties ultimately are what doomed ultimately doomed Penn State. The Nittany Lions racked up 10 penalties for a total of 100 yards lost. By comparison, Indiana incurred four penalties for a total of 36 yards.
Also hurting Penn State in the game was turnovers. Penn State had three turnovers, two of which came from interceptions. Indiana’s two total turnovers came from one interception and a fumble.
The Nittany Lions totaled 238 passing yards and 250 rushing yards for a total of 488 yards in their season opener. By comparison, the Hoosiers had 170 passing yards and 41 rushing yards for a total of 211 total yards in the game.
Penn State even outdid Indiana on first downs, third down conversions and fourth down conversions in last weekend’s game. Penn State totaled 27 first downs to Indiana’s 16, with the majority (13) coming through rushing yards and another 12 from passing yards. Two of the team’s first downs came as a result of penalties against the Hoosiers.
Indiana totaled 16 first downs in the game, the majority (9) of which came from rushing yards. Rushing yards garnered the team another five first downs and penalties against Penn State giving them two more.
Penn State was 9-17 on third down conversions while Indiana was 4-12 In regards to fourth down conversions, Penn State was 1-2 while Indiana was 0-1.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
While Penn State and Ohio State are scheduled as the headliners for this week’s college football broadcast schedule on the ESPN networks, it is just one of the weekend’s featured games. This week’s schedule opens at 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday on ESPN as Georgia Southern hosts South Alabama.
Friday will feature a double header on ESPN and ESPN2. First up at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, Maryland will host Minnesota. Tulsa and East Carolina University will follow at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Saturday’s schedule opens at high noon with seven games spread across the ESPN networks. No. 1 Clemson will host Boston College on ABC. Memphis will be on the road against the now #7-ranked Bearcats on ESPN in a re-match of last year’s AAC title game opponents. West Virginia will host No. 16 Kansas State on ESPN2 while No. 20 Coastal Carolina is scheduled to visit Georgia State on ESPNU.
Kentucky will host No. 5 Georgia at noon on the SEC Network. The ACC Network will feature a face-off between Wake Forest and Syracuse. Over on ESPN+, Tulane will host Temple.
Houston and UCF will follow at 2 p.m. on EPSN+ while ESPN3 will feature either Rice at Southern Miss or Troy at Arkansas State, depending on the schedule and coverage area.
Later at 7:30 p.m. ET, No. 10 Florida will host Missouri on the SEC Alternate network.
This week’s full college football broadcast schedule is noted below.
| Date | Time (ET) | Game/Talent | Network |
| Thu, Oct 29 | 7:30 p.m. | South Alabama at Georgia Southern Matt Barrie, Mike Golic Jr., Lericia Harris | ESPN |
| Fri, Oct 30 | 7:30 p.m. | Minnesota at Maryland Jason Benetti, Andre Ware, Quint Kessenich | ESPN |
| 9 p.m. | East Carolina at Tulsa Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman | ESPN2 | |
| Sat, Oct 31 | Noon | Boston College at No. 1 Clemson Joe Tessitore, Greg McElroy, Holly Rowe | ABC |
| Memphis at No. 7 Cincinnati Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek, Paul Carcaterra | ESPN | ||
| No. 16 Kansas State at West Virginia Roy Philpott, Kelly Stouffer, Jerry Punch | ESPN2 | ||
| No. 20 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State Mike Corey, Jay Walker | ESPNU | ||
| No. 5 Georgia at Kentucky Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic | SEC Network | ||
| Wake Forest at Syracuse Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich, Kelsey Riggs | ACC Network | ||
| Temple at Tulane Lincoln Rose, Keith Moreland | ESPN+ | ||
| 2 p.m. | UCF at Houston David Saltzman, Stan Routt | ESPN+ | |
| 3 p.m. | Rice at Southern Mississippi | ESPN3 | |
| Troy at Arkansas State | ESPN3 | ||
| 3:30 p.m. | No. 4 Notre Dame at Georgia Tech Dave Pasch, Mike Golic Sr., Marty Smith | ABC | |
| Northwestern at Iowa Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky, Allison Williams | ESPN | ||
| TCU at Baylor Dave Flemming, Rod Gilmore, Kris Budden | ESPN2 | ||
| 4 p.m. | Appalachian State at Louisiana-Monroe Bill Roth, Dustin Fox | ESPNU | |
| Ole Miss at Vanderbilt Dave Neal, DJ Shockley, Dawn Davenport | SEC Network | ||
| Virginia Tech at Louisville TV: Wes Durham, Roddy Jones, Eric Wood Radio: Sean Kelley, Barrett Jones | ACC Network/ESPN Radio | ||
| 7 p.m. | Mississippi State at No. 2 Alabama Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge, Todd McShay, Molly McGrath | ESPN | |
| Charlotte at Duke | ESPN3 | ||
| 7:30 p.m. | No. 3 Ohio State at No. 18 Penn State Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Maria Taylor | ABC | |
| Navy at No. 22 SMU Anish Shroff, Tom Luginbill, Ian Fitzsimmons | ESPN2 | ||
| Arkansas at No. 8 Texas A&M Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Lauren Sisler | SEC Network | ||
| Missouri at No. 10 Florida Mike Morgan, Hutson Mason, Taylor Davis | SEC Network Alternate | ||
| 8 p.m. | Louisiana at Texas State Mike Couzens, Rene Ingoglia | ESPNU | |
| No. 15 North Carolina at Virginia Dave O’Brien, Tim Hasselbeck, Katie George | ACC Network | ||
| 10:15 p.m. | Western Kentucky at No. 11 BYU Beth Mowins, Kirk Morrison, Stormy Buonantony | ESPN |
More information on the ESPN networks’ college football coverage is available online along with all of the latest college football news at:
Website: http://www.espn.com/college-football
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CFBonESPN
Twitter: http://twitter.com/espncfb
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