Irish Breakdown

ESPN and SEC Love Affair to be on Full Display for Notre Dame-Texas A&M Opener

Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be on the call for Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M next Saturday

Nick Shepkowski

Aug 30, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; ESPN broadcasters Kirk Herbstreit (right) and Chris Fowler announce the game with the Florida State Seminoles playing against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Aug 30, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; ESPN broadcasters Kirk Herbstreit (right) and Chris Fowler announce the game with the Florida State Seminoles playing against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. / Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
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ESPN long ago announced that the popular College Gameday would be at Texas A&M in Week One for the Notre Dame opener against the Aggies. This week we learned that the ESPN family of networks is throwing the kitchen sink into the television broadcast as the game will air on ABC in primetime.

Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M gets the top ESPN broadcast team as it was announced that Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be on the call while Holly Rowe will be the sideline reporter.

Notre Dame fans must be just thrilled (italics used as sarcasm font) to hear that Fowler and Herbstreit will be on the call.

ESPN's Relationship with the SEC

ESPN's relationship with the SEC is clearly one that would be considered a conflict of interest if it were in the workplace.

ESPN is supposed to report neutrally on the SEC. Does anyone really think that happens when ESPN is paying the SEC $3 billion (yes, with a b) to broadcast the conference's marquee football and basketball games the next 10 years.

Paul Finebaum before the 2022 Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; SEC network host Paul Finebaum looks on before the 2022 Peach Bowl between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Ohio State Buckeyesat Mercedes-Benz Stadium. / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports



Paul Finebaum has always been a mouthpiece for the SEC but even that has grown to cartoonish sizes ahead of this upcoming season.

ESPN's SEC King has been quick to really lay the wood to a couple of very specific targets this off-season. Most notably, Lincoln Riley and the Florida State fan base have been the biggest recipients of his blasts.

Right Paul (and Kirk Herbstreit for that matter), Florida State fans are just nuts (again with the sarcasm font) to think their team should have been in the College Football Playoff after it went 13-0 last regular season.

Finebaum has always been Mr. SEC but it has grown to a ridiculous size this season.

Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit In the Booth

Say the names of ESPN's top college football pairing and Notre Dame fans are surely quick to squirm.

Full transparency: I used to be a huge fan of Kirk Herbstreit and still am in some capacities.

Herbstreit has been an easy guy to root for most of his time at the worldwide leader.

He was a starting quarterback at Ohio State who had no real chance of a long NFL career after graduation. He got in at ESPN and quickly rose the ranks despite not exactly being a household name as a player. In today's world where it seems like every new former player that joins ESPN's College Gameday has to be a former mega-star, Herbstreit was the opposite and I always found that to add to his likability.

Ever since Herbstreit was named to the NFL broadcasts on Amazon each Thursday night though, something has changed. I don't question that he puts in boatloads of work and preps his rear-end off for the games that he calls, but what he brings to College Gameday has clearly taken a hit.

He used to be the one you could count on for in-depth thoughts and analysis. Week by week now he turns more into a guy with a handsome face that simply recites talking points and almost never has anything special for the viewer.

Perhaps he's stretched too thin between the added travel and time the NFL game consumes each week. Perhaps it also has something to do with his longtime co-worker Chris "The Bear" Fallica taking a deal with Fox a couple of years ago and being replaced by the happy-go-lucky Stanford Steve.

To no fault of his own I just can't get behind Chris Fowler as the voice of the biggest college football game of the weekend.

I get the man has put in his time and worked his way up. He's got a great set of pipes, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't bring anywhere near the same aura that the likes of Keith Jackson or Brent Musburger used to bring to big time college football.

Maybe that's just because when I was growing up Fowler was manning the ship on College Gameday.

Maybe it's because Jackson and Musburger are legends and it's unfair of me to hold anyone to that standard.

Maybe its simply just getting older and realizing more and more by the year, something that has been there all along.

Notre Dame on NBC Tries to Do It Right

One of the things I've enjoyed about the Notre Dame football telecasts on NBC over the years is the effort by all to make it a tolerable viewing experience for the masses.

A lot of Notre Dame fans complain that former stars from rival programs have often been on the call for the telecasts. Pat Haden (USC), Doug Flutie (Boston College), and Drew Brees (Purdue) immediately come to mind.

I've never been someone who needs a fan in the booth cheering on a team, at least not in football. When you watch or listen to the same Major League Baseball team 162 times a year, that's another story. In football, not so much.

Although I've enjoyed the Notre Dame radio team over the years (aside from Don Criqui, who career-wise was in the rough on 18 when he held the gig), I've never been one who needed Notre Dame propaganda and fandom being shouted at me for four hours during a game. I've always felt NBC has done a good job avoiding this.

Sure, there are the halftime shows that usually feature an in-depth piece about some work or research being done by the university. There are also reports at times that feel forced in terms of pushing some storylines and whatnot, but as for the actual action on the field - you'd be confused to ever think it was biased despite the obvious good Notre Dame winning would bring to NBC.

Fowler and Herbstreit's Memorable Caleb Williams Call

Mention the names Fowler and Herbstreit to Notre Dame fans of recent years and the 2022 game against USC will almost instantly come up.

USC was closing strong on what was a rebirth of a year for the program and quarterback Caleb Williams was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy. Yeah, not being able to stop Williams or the USC running game that night was frustrating for Notre Dame fans, but the broadcast left more than a little to be desired, too.

The play and call that always gets mentioned occurred early in the second quarter when Fowler lost his mind over Williams escaping a tackle to complete a pass 12-yards down field, well short of a first down. Check it out below.

Awful Announcing describes it perfectly as being a lot to unpack.

I won't pile on Herbstreit as much as his "just short" came off as more of verbal life raft for a teammate to me than it did a true misfire.

It all certainly spoke to some moments feeling too big for the biggest prime-time play-by-play voice going in college football today, though.

Buckle up Notre Dame fans, that will all be on display for you the night of August 31 in College Station.

—Enjoy free coverage of the Irish from Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI—





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Nick Shepkowski
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