US college football broadcast updates

Major American sports networks have announced personnel and broadcast updates for the 2026 college football season.

ESPN is restructuring its studio lineup, with Alyssa Lang replacing Matt Barrie for Friday night and Saturday wrap-around shows. The network also hired former referee Steve Shaw as a rules analyst and added Katie George to its talent roster. NBC Sports has detailed its coverage for Big Ten and Notre Dame matchups, retaining the Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge, and Kathryn Tappen trio for ‘Big Ten Saturday Night’ and utilizing Dan Hicks and Jason Garrett for Notre Dame broadcasts. New additions to the NBC roster include analysts Matt Cassel and Yogi Roth, alongside Jason Benetti and Dave Flemming.

Fox Sports has also revealed its broadcasting roster. While the No. 1 booth featuring Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft remains unchanged, Connor Onion will succeed Jason Benetti in the No. 2 booth alongside Robert Griffin III and Alexa Landestoy. The ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ team will continue with Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram, and Urban Meyer, with Dave Portnoy returning for a second season and former NFL player Rob Gronkowski joining as a regular contributor.

Meanwhile, The CW is expanding its coverage to 140 hours of live action, broadcasting games from the Pac-12, Mountain West, and Atlantic Coast Conference. To manage this volume, the network is utilizing a new facility at Goal Line Studios in Pleasanton, California, which will employ augmented-reality technology and real-time rendering to adjust logos, colors, and backgrounds to match specific games.