It’s that time of year again.
Just ahead of the NFL’s official schedule release — which has somehow been announced as an announcement not once, but twice — college football’s primetime slate is starting to take shape, too.
Fox revealed its plans for an NFL doubleheader to go head-to-head with the College Football Playoff. That wasn’t the only nugget they dropped, as the highly anticipated Ohio State-Texas matchup will air as the Big Noon Kickoff game, as expected.
Meanwhile, the ACC-SEC showdown games have officially been slotted with networks and times.
On Saturday, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium will feature Syracuse vs. Tennessee at noon on ABC, followed by a 3:30 p.m. ET clash between Florida State and Alabama in Tallahassee — also on ABC. It’s a decent bet that some combinations of Sean McDonough with Greg McElroy or Joe Tessitore with Jesse Palmer will probably be on the calls.
Which broadcast team goes where is still to be determined.
Saturday night’s headliner belongs to Clemson and LSU. The Tigers will host the Bayou Bengals at 7:30 p.m. on ABC in what could be a showdown between two top-five preseason teams. It’s a safe bet that Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler will be on the call. If ESPN’s College GameDay ends up in Columbus for Ohio State-Texas — Lee Corso’s final appearance — Herbstreit could feasibly pull double duty, hopping a flight to Upstate South Carolina afterward.
Also on the slate: South Carolina will face Virginia Tech at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 31, on ESPN in the Aflac Kickoff Game, also in Atlanta. That one carries a personal angle. Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer played at Virginia Tech from 1995–99 and later coached under his legendary father, Frank Beamer, in Blacksburg from 2011–15.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.