Saturday Night Football

''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC'' (branded for sponsorship purposes as ''ESPN Saturday Night Football on ABC presented by Capital One'') is an American weekly presentation of prime time broadcasts of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football games that are produced by ESPN, and televised on ABC. Games are presented each Saturday evening starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time/6:30 p.m. Central Time during the college football regular season, which has been the case since 2017 (some weeks until 2015 saw no game on ABC, due to Saturday evening Sprint Cup Series NASCAR coverage or to avoid competition with the World Series; ESPN would then carry that week's high-profile game instead, with ESPN2 carrying a secondary game usually seen on ESPN/ABC). The ESPN on ABC Saturday Night Football coverage began in 2006, as both ESPN and ABC are owned by The Walt Disney Company. It is ESPN's biggest game of the week, and in most cases (outside where another networks carries the game), the city and/or campus of that night's game is where that day's '' ESPN College GameDay'' had originated.

, the primary broadcast team for half the games includes play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler and analyst Kirk Herbstreit, with Holly Rowe as sideline reporter. Kevin Negandhi, Booger McFarland, and Dan Mullen host the studio halftime show. Negandhi also provides in game updates throughout the game. Other ESPN broadcast teams may also occasionally appear for regional (and some national) telecasts.

Overview

''Saturday Night Football'' premiered on September 2, 2006, with a game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While ABC and ESPN have aired college football games on Saturday nights for decades, this program marks the first time that a collegiate sports broadcast has officially been part of any major broadcast television network's primetime schedule.

Twelve weeks of regular season games were televised during the three-month college football season in 2006, 2007 and from 2009 to 2011; the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship Game closing out each season until a conference realignment in which four university football programs left and two others joined the Big 12 Conference resulted in the Championship Game being discontinued after the 2010 event (the Big 12 Football Championship Game returned in 2017, however, it did not return to ABC until 2018, when the network aired the game in the afternoon instead of in primetime). With the college football season being extended by one week, ABC televised thirteen weeks of games in 2008, closing with the 2008 Big 12 Championship Game on December 6. With the loss of the Sprint Cup Series to NBC and NBCSN, ''Saturday Night Football'' expanded its seasonal game schedule full-time to 13 weeks beginning in 2015, starting with the Advocare Classic.

Games from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the old Big East Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Pac-12 Conference, the now-defunct Western Athletic Conference and the American Athletic Conference have aired on ''Saturday Night Football'', as well as non-conference games in which teams from these conferences were either playing at home or a neutral-site game to which ABC holds the television rights. All BCS/ CFP and Power 5 conferences have appeared on ''Saturday Night Football'', as the Southeastern Conference has had its teams featured in 21 non-conference games. Boise State, Utah State, BYU,
Temple, UConn, UCF, Cincinnati, SMU, Tulsa, and Memphis are the only Group of 5 teams to be featured on "Saturday Night Football" to date, with the latter four teams being featured when they were members of the BCS-aligned Big East or American Athletic Conference.

In recent years, following the loss of some broadcast rights of the Pac-12 Conference to Fox Sports in 2012, the Pac-12's Saturday Night Football appearances have been limited to non-conference games, especially home games against Notre Dame and games against the Southeastern Conference, as well as road games against conferences that still have broadcast rights with ABC.

Besides Pac-12 and Big Ten games, ABC makes most of its game broadcast selections or options twelve days prior to the game (with some being made six days beforehand). This allows ABC to 'flex' the most compelling game it has the rights to broadcast into the ''Saturday Night Football'' slot. As a result, the Saturday night game is usually ABC's "game of the week". Beginning in 2024, ABC will have the option to feature an SEC game on Saturday Night Football for the first time.

As of the 2016 college football season, all games on ABC are broadcast in the 16:9 letterbox format on both the SD and HD feeds.

As ESPN has signed new contracts with various conferences to produce college football coverage, the network has begun branding its coverage of select conferences to which it has rights. This branding was first seen on SEC broadcasts in 2011, which became the "SEC on ESPN". ACC broadcasts followed suit in 2012 becoming the "ACC on ESPN". In 2018, the network started branding games aired on ABC as the "ACC on ABC", even though the ACC on ESPN logo is still used for replay wipes. Similarly, all Pac-12 games broadcast under the branding of "Pac-12 on ESPN" or as the "Pac-12 on ABC". In 2016, a new contract brought conference branding to Big Ten telecasts as well, which air on both ESPN and ABC. While Big Ten games that air on ESPN cable channels are branded as the "Big Ten on ESPN", games airing on ABC are now branded as the "Big Ten on ABC". While the program is still officially part of ESPN College Football which is reflected when talent appears on screen, the Big Ten on ABC logo and branding is used for intro, program IDs, and replay wipes. Similarly, because of the new ESPN-Big 12 deal, games featuring teams from the Big 12 will appear on the network under the "Big 12 on ESPN" or "Big 12 on ABC" brand, with replay wipes having the Big 12 on ESPN brand logo. Similarly, with the American Conference, games with teams from the American will appear under the "American Conference on ESPN" or "American Conference on ABC" brand. This is the first time any regularly schedule sporting event outside of the National Spelling Bee has carried any ABC branding since 2006.

The Advocare Classic (formerly the Cowboys Classic) became the opening game for ''Saturday Night Football'' beginning in 2011; however in 2013, the matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and Clemson Tigers served as the opening game with the Classic matchup between LSU and TCU being broadcast on ESPN. The Classic served as the opening game for ''Saturday Night Football'' again in 2014 (that year, involving the Florida State Seminoles and Oklahoma State Cowboys), in 2015 (Alabama Crimson Tide and Wisconsin Badgers) and in 2016 (Alabama Crimson Tide and USC Trojans). In 2017, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (between the top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and the third ranked Florida State Seminoles; which was later described as the ''Greatest Opener of All Time'') served as the opening game for ''Saturday Night Football'' (first time since 2010), while the Advocare Classic featuring the Michigan Wolverines and Florida Gators aired in the 3:30 ET timeslot. In 2018, the Camping World Kickoff (between the new look Louisville Cardinals and the defending 2017 national champion Alabama Crimson Tide) served as the ''Saturday Night Football'' season premiere. The Advocare Classic, between the 2017 ACC Runner-Up Miami Hurricanes and LSU Tigers, aired the next night in primetime, as it served as the ''Sunday Night Kickoff game presented by NHTSA''. The Advocare Classic returned to ''Saturday Night Football'' in 2019, with the Oregon Ducks facing the Auburn Tigers, for the first time since the 2011 Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, in which Auburn won 27–21.

Broadcast teams

2006

*Brent Musburger, play-by-play; Kirk Herbstreit and Bob Davie, analysts; and Lisa Salters, sideline reporter.
**Ten games: Notre Dame–Georgia Tech, Ohio State–Texas, Nebraska–USC, Notre Dame–Michigan State, Ohio State–Iowa, Oregon–California, Michigan–Penn State, Oklahoma–Texas A&M, Wake Forest–Florida State, and Notre Dame–USC.
*Dan Fouts, play-by-play; Tim Brant, analyst; and Jack Arute, sideline reporter.
**Three games: USC–Arizona, Nebraska–Iowa State, and UCLA–California.
* Mark Jones, play-by-play; David Norrie, analyst; and Stacey Dales, sideline reporter.
**Two games: Arizona State–USC and Virginia Tech–Miami (Fla.).
*Gary Thorne, play-by-play; Andre Ware, analyst; and Todd Harris, sideline reporter.
**One game: Texas–Kansas State.
*Brad Nessler, play-by-play; Bob Griese and Paul Maguire, analysts; and Erin Andrews, sideline reporter.
**One game: California–USC.
*Mike Patrick, play-by-play; Todd Blackledge, analyst; and Holly Rowe, sideline reporter (ESPN crew).
**One game: Nebraska–Oklahoma ( Big 12 Championship Game).

2007

*Brent Musburger, play-by-play; Kirk Herbstreit, analyst; Lisa Salters, and Chris Spielman, sideline reporters.
**Eleven games: Tennessee–California, USC–Nebraska, Iowa–Wisconsin, USC–Washington, Ohio State–Purdue, Michigan–Illinois, Ohio State–Penn State, Florida State–Boston College, Kansas–Oklahoma State, Missouri–Kansas, and Oklahoma–Missouri ( Big 12 Championship Game, with Spielman).
*Dan Fouts, play-by-play; Tim Brant, analyst; and Todd Harris, sideline reporter.
**Two games: Washington State–USC and Notre Dame–UCLA.
*Terry Gannon, play-by-play; David Norrie, analyst; and Jeannine Edwards, sideline reporter.
**Two games: Oregon State–USC and USC–California.
*Ron Franklin

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