As college football has become more of a national sport this decade, ESPN has not so quietly put more resources toward covering the sport.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, ESPN executive Mike Foss publicly stated<\/a> that the network \u201cmade a concerted effort to follow college football in a really meaningful way\u201d in 2025. Part of the effort centered around hiring Josh Pate<\/a>, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan as contributors. That trio will host its own Friday evening show<\/a> starting Week 1 this fall.<\/p>\n And as ESPN embraces college football, one of its most prominent longtime commentators covering the sport isn\u2019t hiding his excitement.\u00a0College GameDay veteran and lead game analyst Kirk Herbstreit joined Compton and Lewan on their podcast,\u00a0Bussin\u2019 With the Boys, this week and acknowledged<\/a> the Worldwide leader \u201chas been very, very guilty\u201d of under-covering college football for years.<\/p>\n \u201cI think our own place has been very, very guilty of those morning shows. It\u2019s NFL or LeBron James or the Yankees or the Dodgers. They\u2019re playing the hits,\u201d Herbstreit said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not breaking down what\u2019s going on in Nebraska, unless there\u2019s turmoil, unless there\u2019s some kind of controversy. Then they\u2019re going to want to get into it \u2026 but otherwise, they\u2019re not talking college football. And I\u2019m like, wait a second, why are you always talking NBA and MLB and WNBA, but where\u2019s college football on your rundown? It\u2019s the second-biggest sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bussin\u2019 & Pate On Campus will serve as a table-setter, on-site at one of the big games each weekend<\/a> of the college football season. The hosts have been vocal about their desire to create more day-to-day conversation around the sport, which they believe gets drowned out by NFL talk.<\/p>\n Herbstreit said he believes the concept could work as a daily show, and that ESPN shouldn\u2019t stop at Fridays as it bolsters its college football commentary.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish you guys would do it Monday through Friday, and maybe this Friday show will lead to a Monday through Friday,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I think we need more college football on ESPN.\u201d<\/p>\n This phenomenon is not unique to ESPN<\/a>. Conference realignment, the expansion of the College Football Playoff and new freedoms in the transfer portal have all helped take college football from a regional sport to a consistent national story. FS1 brought in Barstool Sports for its morning show last season, adding to its college football coverage<\/a>. The Ringer launched a college football podcast last year<\/a>, adding to Todd McShay\u2019s NFL Draft content. Networks like USA, The CW and TNT Sports have acquired rights to games.<\/p>\n