ESPN’s CGD To Broadcast Live From Ohio State This Weekend

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN is headed to the Buckeye State this weekend.

This weekend, ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will come live from the campus of Ohio State University. It marks the first time since 2010 that the Emmy Award-winning college football broadcast will come live the the campus of The Ohio State University. Saturday’s broadcast will come live from The Oval in front of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library beginning at 9am ET and will run until noon eastern. The broadcast is in anticipation of Saturday night’s showdown between the #2 Buckeyes and #9 Michigan State Spartans. That game will be the feature match on Saturday Night Football on ABC presented by Wells Fargo. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 3:30pm ET.

Rece Davis will anchor Saturday morning’s broadcast. He will be joined at the desk by analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack. Contributors Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, George Whitfield, and Gene Wojciechowski will be on hand for additional commentary an reports. Herbstreit will have the call Saturday night on ABC. He will be joined in the booth by Chris Fowler. Reporter Heather Cox will also be on hand for additional commentary and reports.

Friday afternoon, Samantha Ponder, Desmond Howard, and David Pollack will be on site for ESPN’s weekly broadcast of College Football Live. That broadcast will begin at 2pm ET. Over on ESPN Radio, Doug Kezirian will anchor ESPN Radio’s broadcast of College GameDay. He will be joined by Brad Edwards and Trevor Matich for the broadcast. Maria Taylor, Joey Galloway, and Andrea Adelson will be on hand for additional commentary. Broadcast begins at 3:30pm ET on ESPN Radio affiliates nationwide. More information on this weekend’s edition of College GameDay Built by the Home Depot is available online now along with all of the latest college football headlines at:

Website: http://espn.go.com/college-football

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/collegegameday

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CollegeGameDay

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

ESPN College Football Analysts Announce Picks For BCS Bowls

Courtesy: ESPN

The holiday season is said to be the most wonderful time of the year.  For college football fans, it’s not Christmas, but the days after that are the most wonderful time of the year.  That’s because the biggest games of the college football season are played in the days after Christmas.  And fans can catch all of the action across the ESPN family of networks and online.  It all starts off New Year’s Day with the 100^th Rose Bowl and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.  Number Four Michigan State will face off against Number Five Stanford in the Rose Bowl presented by Vizio at 5pm.  Number Six Baylor and Number Fifteen UCF follow at 8:30pm in the annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

The new year football celebrations continue Thursday, January 2^nd with a matchup of Number Three Alabama taking on Number Eleven Oklahoma in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.  That game is slated for an 8:30pm start time.  The Discover Orange Bowl follows the next night at 8:30pm with Number Twelve Clemson taking on Number Seven Ohio State.  That games is also set for an 8:30pm kickoff.  Wrapping up the week of football festivities is the Vizio BCS National Championship next Monday, January 6^th.  The one-loss Auburn Tigers will take on the undefeated Florida State Seminoles in college football’s biggest game.

As college football fans across the country get ready for their most wonderful time of the year, ESPN’s college football analysts have made their own predictions as to the winner of each game.  Their picks are listed below.  It should be noted that the analysts in question did not pick the games that they are calling.

ESPN Analysts BCS Picks

Analyst	Rose Bowl #STANvsMSU	Fiesta Bowl #UCFvsBAY	Sugar Bowl #OUvsBAMA	Orange Bowl #CLEMvsOSU	Championship #FSUvsAUB
Anthony Becht	Stanford	UCF	Alabama	Ohio State	Florida State
Mike Bellotti	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Ohio State	Florida State
Kevin Carter	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Florida State
Todd Blackledge	Stanford	Baylor	—	Clemson	—
Ed Cunningham	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Florida State
Joey Galloway	Michigan State	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Florida State
Rod Gilmore	Stanford	—	Alabama	Ohio State	Auburn
Brian Griese	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Ohio State	Florida State
Brock Huard	Michigan State	Baylor	Alabama	Ohio State	Florida State
Danny Kanell	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Florida State
Tom Luginbill	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Auburn
Brett McMurphy	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Florida State
Jesse Palmer	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Ohio State	Florida State
Chris Spielman	Michigan State	—	Alabama	—	Florida State
Matt Stinchcomb	Stanford	Baylor	Alabama	Clemson	Auburn
Andre Ware	Michigan State

 

More information on all of the week’s upcoming BCS games is available online at http://www.facebook.com/CFBonESPN, http://espn.go.com/ncf/index, and http://twitter.com/espncfb.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

ESPN Announces Special Addition To 30 For 30 Series

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN has announced that thanks to the success of its most recent “season” of 30 for 30, the worldwide leader in sports will debut another brand new addition to its Peabody award winning series next month.  On Saturday, December 14^th, ESPN will debut Youngstown Boys.  The film, directed by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, Youngstown Boys is a study on class and power dynamics in the world of college sports.  It studies the subject by following former elite running back Maurice Clarett and former star head coach Jim Tressel.  Both figures came from the city of Youngstown, Ohio.  Tressel rose to fame when he turned around the struggling football program at Youngstown State University.  And then in 2002, Tressel was coaching the Ohio State University football team.  Clarett happened to be on the team that season.  The pairing helped lead the Buckeyes to the university’s first national championship in over thirty years.

Things didn’t stay well long for Clarett.  Clarett would end up being suspended from college football soon thereafter, and would eventually end up behind bars.  Tressel would go on to serve another eight years at OSU before his career there ended in scandal.  Both men were interviewed for this film, as were Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown and former OSU standout QB Craig Krenzel.

Co-director Jeff Zimbalist shared his thoughts on the movie in a recent interview, explaining that “at its core, the story of Maurice Clarett and Jim Tressel is about fathers and sons.”  He added that “in addition to their record-breaking exploits on the playing field and involvement in two of college football’s biggest backroom scandals, we were drawn to the layered saga of ‘The Senator’ and ‘The Beast’ because it transcends sport.  In examining the interconnected rise and downfall of these two men from opposite sides of the Youngstown tracks, we discovered the deep role that family plays in any quest for greatness.”

Youngstown Boys will premiere Saturday, December 14^th at 9pm ET on ESPN.  More information on this and other films from ESPN’s 30 for 30 is available online at http://www.facebook.com/espn30for30, http://twitter.com/30for30 and http://espn.go.com/30for30.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.