Citi BCS National Championship to be Called by Musburger, Herbstreit, Salters & Rinaldi on ABC and Tirico, Gruden, Blackledge & Nix on ESPN Radio; ESPN Radio to Broadcast 18 Games Including Entire BCS

ESPN’s college football bowl schedule — featuring 30 games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and ESPN360.com — will be highlighted by the Citi BCS National Championship Game (No. 2 Texas vs. No. 1 Alabama) from the Rose Bowl Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN Radio. In addition to the National Championship, ABC and ESPN Radio will broadcast the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi (No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 7 Oregon) Friday, Jan. 1. 

ESPN and ESPN2 will televise 24 bowl games, highlighted by Capital One Bowl Week, one of ESPN’s most-viewed weeks of the year, from Dec. 19-Jan. 2. ESPN360.com will simulcast eveory ESPN and ESPN2 telecast while ESPN Radio will broadcast 18 bowl games, including all five BCS matchups. For the first time, ESPN will televise the Texas Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 31, at 3:30 p.m.  

Beginning next season, ESPN will televise all five BCS games – including the National Championship Game – as the result of an agreement with the BCS. It will include the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls each season and the BCS National Championship Game in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Through a separate agreement, ESPN will also televise the Rose Bowl Game beginning in 2011. 

Coverage will kick off with an ESPN doubleheader Saturday, Dec. 19: the New Mexico Bowl (Fresno State vs. Wyoming) at 4:30 p.m. and the St. Petersburg Bowl (UCF vs. Rutgers) at 8 p.m. Highlights include:  

• Twenty-seven games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, all offered in high definition on ABC HD, ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD. ABC will televise two New Year’s Day bowl games: the Capital One Bowl (No. 13 Penn State vs. No. 12 LSU) at 1 p.m., followed by the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi (No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 7 Oregon) at 4:30 p.m. ABC will also televise the Citi BCS National Championship (No. 2 Texas vs. No. 1 Alabama) Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m.  
• ESPN360.com will offer a live simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 game as well as ABC telecasts of the National Championship, Rose Bowl and Capital One Bowl on short turnaround (2:30 a.m. ET on the morning of the games). 
• ESPN Radio will broadcast 18 bowl games, including all five BCS matchups, highlighted by the BCS National Championship game (Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m.).    
• ESPNU will offer encore presentations of 25 bowl games and two bowl preview shows.
• ESPN.com will offer a special bowl section with previews of each game as well as a fantasy bowl application. 
• ESPN Classic will offer encore presentations of 25 memorable games in six days.
• ESPN, ESPN360.com and ESPN Radio will offer coverage of all six ESPN Regional Television owned-and-operated bowl games: the New Mexico Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl Saturday, Dec. 19, at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively; MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 8 p.m.; Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Thursday, Dec. 24, at 8 p.m.; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Thursday, Dec. 31, at noon; and Papajohns.com Bowl Saturday, Jan. 2, at 2 p.m.

ESPN will utilize 59 on-air personalities to cover the 30 bowl games, highlights include: 

• ESPN on ABC Saturday Night Football Presented by Southwest Airlines commentators Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters will work the Citi BCS National Championship on Jan. 7 and the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi on ABC on Jan. 1. Reporter Tom Rinaldi will join them for the National Championship. ESPN Monday Night Football announcer Mike Tirico and analyst Jon Gruden will call ESPN Radio’s broadcast of both, with analyst Todd Blackledge joining them for the Championship game. 
• Commentator Bob Wischusen will work games with a father/son duo, calling a game with analyst Bob Griese and two with Bob’s son Brian Griese. 
• Brian Griese, in his first year as an analyst, will join his father, veteran analyst Bob Griese, as both work the Outback Bowl but in different booths. Bob will call the game for ESPN and Brian for ESPN Radio.  
• The overtime award will go to Bill Rosinski, Dennis Franchione and Joe Schad, who will call six games for ESPN Radio.

 
ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and ESPN360.com College Football Bowl Schedule
 

ESPNU to Offer Encore Presentations of 25 Bowls and Bowl Preview Shows

ESPNU will offer an encore presentation of 25 bowl games airing on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 and two shows previewing and reviewing the upcoming games: ESPNU Bowl Preview Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 5 p.m., and ESPNU BCS Bowl Preview Thursday, Dec. 17 at 9:30 p.m. The schedule of ESPNU encore games: 

ESPN.com to Offer Special Bowl Section and Bowl Mania
ESPN.com will offer a special section featuring individual pages for each of the BCS Bowl games, with overviews of who, what and why to watch from ESPN.com’s Brian Bennett, Heather Dinich, Tim Griffin, Chris Low, Ted Miller, Adam Rittenberg and Graham Watson. 

ESPN.com will also offer related video, season stats, rosters and team histories, daily SportsNation polls and live chats, complete Accuscore statistical game simulations, commentary and humor from ESPN.com’s Page 2 section, and more. Additionally, for each game, ESPN Scouts, Inc., will preview and break down each matchup.  

Contributors will include ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel, Pat Forde, Mark Schlabach and Gene Wojciechowski, as well as ESPN television analysts. 

Tens of thousands of fantasy sports players have signed up for ESPN.com’s new and improved ‘Bowl Mania’ Fantasy game, in which users pick the winners of each of the 34 college football bowl games and rank them in the order of confidence. Players can compete against fans from around the country for prizes or create private groups to compete against friends. 

Twenty-five Classic Bowls in Six Days on ESPN Classic Dec. 14-19

ESPN Classic will present 25 classic bowl games in six days beginning Monday, Dec. 14. 

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