College football's best opening weekend will be highlighted on ESPN's networks by seven marquee games over Labor Day Weekend and more than 40 games overall Thursday, Sept. 1-Monday, Sept. 5, across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, ACC Network Extra and ESPN3.
In addition to three nights of marquee games in prime time - No. 12 USC vs. No. 1 Alabama on ABC's Saturday Night Football and on
ESPN Radio (8 p.m.), No. 9 Notre Dame at Texas in a special
ABC Sunday prime-time presentation (7:30 p.m.) and No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 14 Ole Miss on Labor Day night (8 p.m. on
ESPN and
ESPN Radio) - ESPN's networks will televise 13 top 20 teams and, overall, 14 ranked teams in the season's first full week. Among the must-see games on Saturday, Sept. 3, include No. 2 Clemson at Auburn (9 p.m. on ESPN), Hawaii at No. 3 Michigan (noon on ESPN), No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 18 Houston (noon on ABC), No. 6 LSU vs. Wisconsin (3:30 on ABC) and No. 13 Georgia vs. No. 19 North Carolina (5:30 p.m. on
ESPN and
ESPN Radio).
In addition to highly ranked teams facing off and some of the sport's biggest brands, the location of games adds to the interest, as Lambeau Field hosts its first college game in more than 30 years and 2016's first
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Saturday begins in Dublin, Ireland.
"We have been looking forward to week 1 since the day after last season's
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Playoff National Championship," said
ESPN senior coordinating producer Lee Fitting. "It is the best opening weekend
COLLEGE FOOTBALL has ever had and ESPN's networks have the most marquee games and the best overall schedule in the industry."
On Thursday, Sept. 1, No. 11 Tennessee will host Appalachian State (7:30 p.m.) and South Carolina plays at Vanderbilt (8 p.m.) to begin
SEC Network and ESPN's week 1 television slate, respectively. In addition to
SEC NATION being on-location in Knoxville, Brent Musburger and
Jesse Palmer will call the game with Laura Rutledge working double-duty, reporting both for the SEC Network's traveling road show and the game telecast.
Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore and Quint Kessenich will be in
NASHVILLE when the Gamecocks and Commodores matchup. On Friday, Sept. 2, in Denver, new commentating crew of Adam Amin,
Mack Brown and
Molly McGrath will make their Friday night debut when they call Colorado State vs. Colorado from Sports Authority Field at Mile High on at 8 p.m. ESPN.
The season's first full Saturday of games begins early from across the pond when Georgia Tech plays Boston College from Dublin, Ireland, at 7:30 a.m. on ESPN2. Jason Benetti, Kelly Stouffer, and Paul Carcaterra will be live from Aviva Stadium for the early morning kickoff in the United States.
ESPN will televise three games, beginning at noon with No. 3 Michigan hosting Hawaii with Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham and Dr. Jerry Punch on the call. In addition to the previously mentioned
ABC triple header,
ESPNU and
SEC Network will also televise three games, while ESPN3 and
ACC Network Extra will carry more than 10 games combined
Photos: ESPN's 2016
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Commentators
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