ESPN dives deep into college football season this weekend

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Thanks to the ESPN/ABC family of networks, college football gets a week's jump on the NFL when it comes to capturing the sports fan's attention.

The all-sports network has 31 games covered over five days beginning on Thursday night.

It's an impressive list.

The highlights from an ESPN release:

ESPN will kick off the 2010 college football season with 31 games in five days across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3.com, ESPN 3D and ESPN Radio beginning Thursday, Sept. 2. ESPN’s opening weekend of action will conclude with a Labor Day doubleheader Monday, Sept. 6, highlighted by No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 10 Virginia Tech from FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN 3D, ESPN’s newest outlet and the first 3D network to launch in the industry.



ESPN and ABC will each televise a matchup between ranked teams in prime time Saturday, Sept. 4: No. 24 Oregon State vs. No. 6 TCU in the Cowboys Classic from Arlington, Texas, at 7:45 p.m. on ESPN, and No. 21 LSU vs. No. 18 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game from Atlanta at 8 p.m. on Saturday Night Football on ABC.



Other ranked teams in action include:

· No. 4 Florida against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Sept. 4, at noon on ESPN and ESPN3.com;

· No. 5 Texas at Rice on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN3.com

· No. 13 Miami against Florida A&M on Thursday, Sept. 2, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN3.com;

· No. 14 USC at Hawaii on Thursday, Sept. 2, at 11 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN3.com;

· No. 16 Georgia Tech against South Carolina State on Saturday, Sept. 4, at 1 p.m. on ESPN3.com;

· No. 20 Florida State against Samford on Saturday, Sept. 4, at noon on ESPNU.

In terms of announcing teams, Warrick Dunn (I didn't even know he retired) will be doing Presbyterian at Wake Forest on Thursday night.

Whitehall native Matt Millen will work UConn at Michigan on Saturday afternoon at 3:30, working with Sean McDonough.

Another former Penn Stater, Todd Blackledge works with Brad Nessler on the Oregon State-TCU game on Saturday night.

The lead ESPN/ABC team of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will work LSU at North Carolina Saturday night and Boise State-Virginia Tech from Landover, Maryland, on Monday night.

Former Phillies broadcaster Scott Graham does the play-by-play of the Temple-Villanova game at 5 p.m. Friday.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/