In a Labor Day weekend of college football that saw chaos at every turn, it was still a surprise when a power outage knocked out any chance for No. 19 SMU at Florida State’s game to start on time to close out Week 1 action.
But when the lights were out in Tallahassee, Florida, ESPN and ACC Network’s stars shone brightest.
Sideline reporter Taylor McGregor and ACC Huddle host Taylor Tannebaum were swift to keep viewers, and even the media on site in a blacked-out Doak S. Campbell Stadium press box, informed on the latest news and updates.
Taylor McGregor, paired with longtime TV teammates commentator Dave Pasch and analyst Dusty Dvoracek, hustled to get perspective from referees, conference officials, school administrators and even SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee in real time. Tannebaum hosted an unexpected studio fill of an hour and 40 minutes — in addition to the original 30-minute show — to keep viewers engaged and informed alongside analysts Eddie Royal, Eric Mac Lain and former FSU national championship head coach Jimbo Fisher.
“You always hear people say relationships are the most important thing in this business, and I saw that play out in real time,” McGregor said. “The relationships we build with coaches, athletic directors and conference officials are essential, but the ones we have within our own crew are just as important. Because our team knows each other so well, we were able to communicate clearly, adapt quickly and navigate a unique situation together. That’s what I’m most proud of, how everyone came together and responded under pressure.”
Jim Birch, Sr. Operations Manager, noted that ESPN’s operations teams prepare for every scenario to keep serving viewers anytime, anywhere: “We maintain rigorous contingency plans designed to manage unpredictable variables, ensuring we are ready when secondary protocols must become the primary strategy. While an event of this nature is always unprecedented, the professionalism, poise and communication demonstrated by our crews on site ensured we never lost the ability to provide consistent coverage for college football fans.”
While the crew on site was utilizing its own backup power to keep studio on air, the team in Bristol was supporting throughout. ACC Network studio producer Bryan Ives and Jack Obringer, VP, Production were crucial to the Tallahassee studio team’s ability to integrate and coordinate with limited resources due to the outage.
Said ACC Huddle host Tannebaum: “I was most proud of how our ACC Huddle team embraced a chaotic situation with so many unknowns, starting with our producer, Cody Fuentes, in the truck. Nobody had all the answers in the moment, so our goal was to keep viewers informed while also being a companion for them through an unprecedented night. We were asking many of the same questions they were, and that shared curiosity helped shape our coverage. It was also rewarding to watch our analysts, who put in so much work every week, showcase their talent and expertise on one of the biggest stages in the show’s history.”
Said Mike Cambareri (ACCN Coordinating Producer): “We were asked to perform in front of the largest audience in the history of ACC Huddle, and I couldn’t be more proud of how our team responded. We’ve always known internally how talented this group is, but now the rest of the country got to see it too.”
Monday night was the end of a coast-to-coast tour for the ACC Huddle crew, who spent Friday and Saturday in the Bay Area for studio coverage surrounding games at ACC members Stanford and Cal before the Labor Day Monday game at FSU.
Closing out coverage from three campuses in four days is no easy feat, so the team’s ability to stay nimble and fill until 9:15 p.m. was even more impressive after several hours of live TV and 5,609 miles of travel.
Colin Bradley contributed to this post