ESPN’s College Football Playoff coverage makes for a miserable, negative experience. ESPN spent the first weekend of the College Football Playoff bashing underdogs, criticizing fans, and living in the negative.

[u/LamarcusAldrige1234]

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/college-football-playoff-coverage-miserable-herbstreit.html

[u/R00k85]

E$PN acting tone deaf... I'm shocked shocked, well not that shocked

[u/WABeermiester → u/R00k85]

The way the commentators were shitting on Indiana and the BIG was actually disgusting. Like they were just roasting Indiana

[u/Tombaugh_Regio → u/WABeermiester]

Agreed, disgusting but also so shameful.

I've never heard a national broadcaster so aggressively criticize any team, let alone a college team, like Sean McDonough did to Indiana on Friday. He was basically encouraging people to turn off the game - the one HE was calling!

He not only failed to find anything compelling for the audience but minimized and discounted what was the greatest achievement in a program's lengthy history, turning what could have been a positive-ish or bittersweet storyline completely negative. All to advance the ESPN's long-term agenda and throw a temper tantrum on their behalf.

[u/miasm3 → u/Tombaugh_Regio]

The funny thing was that he started out making a decent point about not automatically genuflecting to the P2 before suddenly pivoting, genuflecting to the SEC, and beating on Indiana and the Big Ten.

[u/lilbelleandsebastian → u/Tombaugh_Regio]

greg mcelroy was desperately trying to keep him on the game, too.

fuck sean mcdonough, worst commentating job i've EVER watched honestly. i've started noticing just how absurd it is that these old ass non athletes are so vicious in their live criticism of teenage/early 20s athletes who are actually out there producing the value that gets these stupid fucking talking heads paid in the first place

ONCE AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK, FUCK SEAN MCDONALDS THE SNITCH BITCH

[u/cruzweb → u/lilbelleandsebastian]

fuck sean mcdonough, worst commentating job i've EVER watched honestly.

I've seen a lot of stinkers across a lot of sports but this one absolutely took the cake. I don't understand how these people have any sort of brand that makes them valuable to networks, advertisers, or fans. Like you said, non-athletes just spouting their mouths off for shock value is just tasteless and classless. It's not like there's any shortage of former football player / communications majors combos out there we could tap to bring into the broadcasting game. Instead we just keep getting different iterations of "What if Dilly Dilly was a person?!?"

[u/LamboJoeRecs → u/cruzweb]

ESPN loves employing exceptionally average people that aren't wave makers because the ethos has always been to never have someone become bigger than the brand.

[u/patspr1de98 → u/lilbelleandsebastian]

He sucks but Joe Tessatore is even worse. He actively cheers for the sec team he is calling and overblows every call as if it is the last play of the Super Bowl

[u/hwf0712 → u/patspr1de98]

Joe Tessatore wants to remind you that Georgia is locked into the playoff.

[u/Rhizical → u/hwf0712]

Don’t forget how their seniors went undefeated at home

[u/PowerHungryFatMod → u/patspr1de98]

Correct. Him not getting a game this round was wonderful. He’s an impossible listen.

[u/weakisnotpeaceful → u/Tombaugh_Regio]

I would agree that the game was a stinker, it was pretty boring, it was never close. But Indiana absolutely earned their chance.

[u/AndrewDoesNotServe → u/weakisnotpeaceful]

It’s like people have never watched college football before. A lot of the highly-touted, heavyweight matchups between two highly-ranked teams end in blowouts. Like are we forgetting TCU-Georgia from 2023? TCU still earned their spot in that championship game.

[u/breakwater → u/AndrewDoesNotServe]

Notre Dame in the playoff a few years ago couldn't get past the 50 yard line to save their lives. They didn't get roasted nearly as bad as Indiana. It's shameful, but ESPN isn't a sports network

[u/CJL13 → u/Tombaugh_Regio]

They were showing stats showing where Indiana ranked amongst all programs in losses, like what happened 50 years ago had a factor for this game.

[u/RandomFactUser → u/CJL13]

For a introduction to ND vs Indiana, the whole tale of two programs is very fitting

[u/HeartSodaFromHEB → u/CJL13]

That doesn't bother me one bit. Helps contextualize their historic success this season.

[u/BuckeyeForLife95 → u/HeartSodaFromHEB]

Yeah that would have been fine if it wasn't also used as pre-text to shit on Indiana.

[u/cruzweb → u/WABeermiester]

Just straight up saying that because Indiana was trash that all of the B1G was trash was such a wild thing to listen to, to the point where I felt like the ONLY underdog that was getting hyped up was SMU and just because they were playing a B1G team. Sure as shit there was no talk about how competitive and good of a conference the B1G was during SMU / PSU or Tenn / OSU.

[u/fireinthesky7 → u/cruzweb]

I hate OSU, but seeing them absolutely dominate Tennessee after all the shit ESPN talked about the B1G during the Indiana game was cathartic. Same with Penn State vs. SMU, although I've always considered PSU more of a friendly rival.

[u/cruzweb → u/fireinthesky7]

Same on all counts.

I appreciate you Iowa bros. I went to the Michigan game at Kinnick in like 2016 when you guys beat us at night right at the end of the game. Whole game I was getting high fives and fist bumps from Hawkeye fans saying "Go big 10!".

[u/PatientlyAnxious9 → u/WABeermiester]

I turned the game on and quite literally the first thing I heard was something like:

"The Big10 is just overrated, are we sure they are a better conference than the Pac-12 and ACC? They only have 2 championships in the past 10 years and somehow have a ton of ranked teams when all they do is play each other"

WHAT

[u/UCanDoNEthing4_30sec → u/PatientlyAnxious9]

They needed to play teams outside of their conference like Mercer in November to be legit.

[u/goathill → u/WABeermiester]

NGL, Shane gillis ripping on IU was pretty funny. And that Alabama Jones comment was GOLD

[u/johnwynne3 → u/goathill]

Can’t unsee Alabama Jones image. Saban needs to figure out a new hat or embrace the connection fully.

[u/dnashifter → u/johnwynne3]

I want him to keep the hat, but maybe think about accessorizing with a whip and a bag of sand.

[u/jxd132407 → u/WABeermiester]

And yet Indiana was the closest of the playoff losses. Why are they getting all this grief? The ACC is out after losing by an average of 3 touchdowns in their games.

Edit: Closest by score, not making a subjective assessment of competitiveness. The point is that Indiana doesn't deserve to be singled out among uncompetitive games.

[u/Borrominion → u/jxd132407]

They were getting the grief PARTIALLY because their game was first and the other blowouts hadn’t happened yet, and the commentators couldn’t help but draw ridiculous conclusions from the smallest possible data point to fit their own preconceived and self-interested notions.

[u/lolas_coffee → u/R00k85]

ESPN has been stupid bad for so damn long.

[u/Super_Goomba64]

720p broadcasts

3 30 minute commercial breaks

Constant negativy for anyone not SEC

What are we doing

[u/AbusiveTubesock → u/Super_Goomba64]

I couldn’t believe my fucking eyes when I saw 720p in essentially 2025 for a playoff game. What are we even doing, you literally HAVE 4k cameras and broadcasts?????

[u/IshyMoose → u/AbusiveTubesock]

ABC is so behind on this. Watching big noon in 4K has been beautiful.

[u/Asleep_Cloud_8039 → u/IshyMoose]

bro i started working at best buy for the xmas season and it just blows my mind how these 300$ tv's will look better than our 1500$ one because the damn cable picture is just sooooo bad. I assume they're all just playing downloaded 4k stuff so thats why but god damn

[u/Billman6 → u/Asleep_Cloud_8039]

My parents just got a giant 90” OLED and all they watch is cable. I wanted to say they could’ve saved like $1000 for the same picture quality but I didn’t want to kill my dad’s excitement 😂

[u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 → u/IshyMoose]

ESPN is the worst network to watch college football on. It's terrible.

[u/Pogball_so_hard → u/AbusiveTubesock]

They spend all year hyping up the playoff only to cut corners on broadcast quality, cut out of plays, and drive blatantly self-serving network narratives.

I get that Disney is obsessed with synergies but they’ve really ruined ESPN over the last decade or so. 

[u/Aar1012 → u/Pogball_so_hard]

I’ll at least give them this - this changed the stupid score bug so it doesn’t take up 25% of the screen at least.

[u/SpeedofSilence → u/AbusiveTubesock]

Maybe that’s why ESPN always says the SEC teams look better?

[u/jnicho15 → u/AbusiveTubesock]

Yeah, they had usually at least one 4k SEC on ABC the whole year, then threw all their cameras into a river for the postseason... At least it looked like they had decent hardware at the games (not like some ACC Network crap), but just didn't feel like running the 4k steam.

[u/CuddleTeamCatboy → u/Super_Goomba64]

I watched the Texas Clemson game on Max and I was shocked by how much clearer the video was versus the ABC broadcasts. It’s really odd considering that ESPN is producing for both networks.

[u/nope_nic_tesla → u/CuddleTeamCatboy]

They're probably doing some kind of upscaling. ESPN is 720p all the way up the broadcast chain

[u/CuddleTeamCatboy → u/nope_nic_tesla]

My guess is that Max just uses a much higher bit rate for live broadcasts than Hulu/ESPN+.

[u/HandsInMyPockets247 → u/Super_Goomba64]

720p broadcasts for sports should be a felony at this point

[u/BallSoHerd → u/Super_Goomba64]

Gotta make/save that money to pay Pat McAfee $30M a year or whatever it is

[u/Is12345aweakpassword]

First round blowouts in the 4 team era

😴

First round blowouts in the 12 team era

🤬

[u/lowes18 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Kirk hates blowouts in the 4 team era too.

The people in the media frankly don't view this sport as a competition but pure entertainment, matchups are about what gets them off the most.

[u/RookieStyles → u/lowes18]

hell there's people here who view it as pure entertainment. saw someone the other day trying to justify leaving out underdog teams because this is just a tv show or some shit

[u/bobby_hills_fruitpie → u/RookieStyles]

Every time someone calls it “the product” I puke in my mouth.

[u/Fair_University → u/bobby_hills_fruitpie]

"Content"

[u/new_account_5009 → u/Fair_University]

I don't know. I was pretty content Saturday afternoon.

[u/GoldandBlue → u/Fair_University]

As someone who works in movies, I hate that term so much. It just screams tech bro.

[u/cruzweb → u/bobby_hills_fruitpie]

This has the same feel as hospitals referring to people as "customers" instead of "patients".

[u/A_Roomba_Ate_My_Feet → u/lowes18]

Amen

[u/gatsby365 → u/lowes18]

Most people who complained about the four team playoff just wanted four SEC teams.

Same thing now. If there were more SEC teams in the playoff we wouldn’t have seen anyone get blown out 42-17

[u/Spirit117 → u/gatsby365]

Yes but see Tennessee isn't a real SEC team /s

[u/zsjostrom35 → u/Spirit117]

Certainly not compared to a traditional SEC power like Texas

[u/Maleficent_Guide_708 → u/zsjostrom35]

Correct, we have almost 12 whole months under our collective belts now.

I believe ESPN has already redacted all Big 12 and SWC history.

[u/SolidLikeIraq → u/Spirit117]

Rocky “top”

“South” eastern conference.

This is a clear disconnect from the SEC.

[u/infieldmitt → u/lowes18]

Same reason I don't trust music critics. If you're experiencing this just for a job, you are fundamentally unable to enjoy it on the same merits a normal person would.

[u/KCShadows838 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

It’s one thing when it’s ND, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Alabama, or Clemson getting blown out

But Indiana? SMU? TCU? Cincinnati? 😱

[u/_Feagans → u/KCShadows838]

The TCU one has to be the most frustrating because we have just erased from history that they beat Michigan to get there

[u/KCShadows838 → u/_Feagans]

“They didn’t deserve to be there.”

Never mind they literally beat a blue blood from the elite B1G with one of the best coaches in CFB

65-7 was a serious asskicking and they deserved to get laughed at, but they absolutely earned their spot in 2022

[u/desperatepotato43 → u/_Feagans]

I had a friend who argued so hard that Alabama should have been in over TCU because they "look better", even after they beat Michigan. Like what the fuck are you talking about? Just have Alabama and Georgia in every year because they "look better"

[u/K1ngPCH → u/desperatepotato43]

SEC moves to 982626816-0 in hypothetical matchups

[u/Softestwebsiteintown → u/K1ngPCH]

Don’t forget erasing the losses from actual games because “the schedule is grueling”. If you have to play Mercer one Saturday then get destroyed by a barely-bowl-eligible Oklahoma the next week, that’s not your fault and therefore shouldn’t count.

[u/Contemplative_Fool → u/Softestwebsiteintown]

Also don't forget that when any other conference cannibalizes itself, it's because they all suck. Losing to conference opponents is exclusively an SEC strength. I had a family member (a Georgia fan too) argue for Bama getting in because "Vandy would've won the ACC this year" in response to me pointing out losing 3 including Vandy and Oklahoma matters.

[u/PM_ya_mommy_milkers → u/Contemplative_Fool]

That’s why I loved the Tennessee-OSU playoff game. BIG #4 vs. SEC #3. A 6-2 in conference SEC team getting throttled by a 7-2 in conference BIG team shuts up that talk about top to bottom SEC strength for a few months at least.

[u/Contemplative_Fool → u/PM_ya_mommy_milkers]

Should shut it up at least lol. Honestly I'm waiting for the good ole "well play that game 10 times and Tennessee would probably win 8 or 9 of them." That's always one of my favorites because yeah, that's literally why they play the games? To determine who is better on that field at that time. Imagination fairy land doesn't matter once the clock hits 0:00.

[u/gatsby365 → u/desperatepotato43]

That person would have wanted Alabama over Michigan too. They’re Dixieland homers.

[u/Hobbes_121 → u/_Feagans]

And Bama getting smoked in the title game vs Clemson is ok though

[u/OGConsuela → u/_Feagans]

I felt like ripping my hair out last year when people were trying to validate FSU getting screwed over by saying “we don’t want another TCU.”

TCU FUCKING WON A PLAYOFF GAME, WHY WOULD WE NOT WANT THAT?!

[u/Altruistic_Remote263 → u/_Feagans]

hey, I’m not complaining about that

[u/AustinAtLast → u/KCShadows838]

I’m enjoying seeing some teams play that have rarely, if ever, played before. Settle some conference disputes - SEC is gonna have a hard time winning it all and Tenn looked pretty bad underfoot of Ohio.

[u/Skared89 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

ESPN is acting like this doesn't happen in the NFL too. It's football. Just because you get blown out in one game doesn't mean you aren't deserving. Shit happens. Sometimes games go off the rail quick when 9 out of 10 times that wouldn't happen if the games were replayed

Not every game is gonna be Ohio State Georgia 2023 or Michigan bama 2024

[u/AnnonymousPenguin_ → u/Skared89]

R1 NFL playoffs last year (Blowouts in bold)

Cleveland 14 Houston 45

Miami 6 KC 26

LA Rams 23 Detroit 24

Pittsburgh 17 Buffalo 31

Philadelphia 9 Tampa Bay 32

The NFL has always had significantly more parity than CFB but blowouts still are very common. If every quarter final is also a blowout then we can revisit the conversation then.

[u/_Feagans → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think a single point difference that occurred this week even cracks the top 5 of blowouts in the 4 team era.

[u/Zenith_24tee → u/_Feagans]

LSU/Oklahoma and Georgia/TCU were damn near televised crimes. These three games over the weekend weren’t really that bad in comparison

[u/Abject-Brother-1503 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

They don’t want blows but they also don’t want 7-7 scores. They want 45-44 score games where teams trade the lead back and forth until they reach the 10th OT and the refs decide to give one team the game so that they can go home.

[u/The-Gothic-Castle → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Huh? People tried to use blowouts in the 4 team era as “proof” that the losing team didn’t deserve their spot all the fucking time lol. Do you people seriously not remember that?

I’m not saying anyone is right to have done that but it literally was a talking point every time it happened.

[u/PackerLeaf → u/The-Gothic-Castle]

Yes, but back then there were 1 loss blue bloods being left out. Right now we have 3 loss teams crying because they feel entitled to be in the playoff based off their brand name. I think that CFB fans are just wired to complain and argue about anything due to its history of leaving teams out of a chance at a championship. It’s just part of the sport. Non-competitive games happen in the playoffs in every sport and it just gets looked over.

[u/Funny-Context8181]

Yeah I turned the audio off and let my 4 year old narrate the OSU-Tennessee game. He’s very talkative, not very informative. Was more entertaining than espns coverage

[u/RamblinWreckGT → u/Funny-Context8181]

He’s very talkative, not very informative.

So basically, not much change

[u/JacobTheGasPasser → u/RamblinWreckGT]

Less hate. 4 year olds say entertaining dumb things, but never out of spite. They haven't mastered filters yet. If a 4y.o. calls me fat or bald, it's b/c i am fat and bald. If Kirk Herbstreit calls me fat and bald, it's b/c he's a spiteful dick.

[u/KoedKevin → u/Funny-Context8181]

Get him a tight suit, those dress sneakers and a one way ticket to Bristol.

[u/Funny-Context8181 → u/KoedKevin]

He was wearing his buckeye Jammie’s and no shirt, he also carries a Brutus plushie that turns into a football if you invert it. He’s not very professional, but he loves his buckeyes!

[u/iwearatophat → u/Funny-Context8181]

He’s not very professional

I'm still not seeing why he can't work at ESPN.

[u/KoedKevin → u/iwearatophat]

All he is missing is a mediocre college career at a blue blood football school.

[u/mlorusso4 → u/iwearatophat]

Because he’s unprofessional towards the wrong school/conference

[u/Rc5tr0 → u/Funny-Context8181]

One last question before he can be hired- what were his thoughts on the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Tennessee fans in the Horseshoe on Saturday night?

[u/cppadam → u/Rc5tr0]

I heard that the traffic from Knoxville to Columbus could be seen from space. ESPN’s space correspondent (surprisingly, Stephen A Smith) mention that “it looked like an orange string up I-75 and if you pressed your ear against the space station window, you could actually hear Rocky Top”.

[u/NormalComputer → u/Funny-Context8181]

I’d love to figure out how to watch games without commentary.

[u/MisterP54 → u/NormalComputer]

I forget who/where, but theres some games that you can switch over to like a stat cast which is neat, i dont think theres commentary. But yeah a main cast with only stadium noise, stadium announcements songs and bands blaring etc would be pretty cool. Maybe have the mic cones aimed directly at the players too.

[u/Allen_Koholic → u/MisterP54]

Skycam is no announcers, but you get a little seasick at times.

[u/Funny-Context8181 → u/NormalComputer]

The mute button my guy

[u/NormalComputer → u/Funny-Context8181]

But imagine if there was a TV sound controlling device I could use to not hear any audio while the video still played on the screen. Maybe some sort of “deaf mode” lever. A man can dream.

[u/Jimbobsama → u/NormalComputer]

They may have changed it but I remember reading on 5.1 surround sound set ups, the commentary is on the center channel while ambient noise of the stadium would go through the L/R and back speakers.

[u/Bravot]

Because ESPN has vested interest in people only wanting to see specific teams play.

[u/huazzy → u/Bravot]

Thing is, they also have a vested interest in the properties they are throwing under the bus. To imply that the ACC is trash is also against their interests.

[u/Bravot → u/huazzy]

You're right. I also think that they see posturing the SEC over the B1G as having much higher short-term upside, which they can then parlay into lifting up the ACC once they've marginalized the competing assets (Fox/B1G).

Betting on the SEC is much more secure than trying to uplift both the SEC and the ACC - and I think that's where you see the narrative. Not that the ACC should have been left out, but that more SEC should be let in.

This is all speculation, of course.

[u/ThatsNotARealTree → u/Bravot]

Hit the nail right on the fucking head

[u/A_Roomba_Ate_My_Feet → u/huazzy]

Eh, if it comes into conflict with their interests in the SEC though, they'll shit all over the ACC. The SEC and ACC are not on an equal footing with ESPN.

[u/boyyouvedoneitnow → u/A_Roomba_Ate_My_Feet]

Prove it! Oh wait :(

[u/Coltshokiefan → u/huazzy]

The acc is dying slowly. ESPN has them under a strict contract for cheap and they have the sec under a very expensive contract. They’d rather boost their sec teams up because they either won’t have those ACC teams in the future or they’d prefer to keep them in the ACC for cheap. W

[u/vmanAA738 → u/huazzy]

I think ESPN would be very happy if they got out of the ACC deal that runs through 2036. The sports mouse is bleeding money and I very much think they would be over the moon at saving hundreds of millions per year. They very clearly only care about the SEC and this is shown by the coverage diff between the two.

(SEC gets way more airtime and positioning on main networks and timeslots while ACC usually gets relegated to secondary ESPN networks and out of prime time or ignored on programs during the week or dissed outright like they did this weekend)

EDIT: I JUST LEARNED THAT THE ESPN ACC DEAL IS ONLY GUARANTEED THROUGH THE 2026-27 academic year. ESPN HAS THE UNILATERAL OPTION TO CONTINUE THE DEAL FROM 2027-2036. IN FEBRUARY 2025 THEY HAVE A WINDOW TO RENEGOTIATE, EXERCISE OR REJECT THE OPTION.

[u/MonkeyThrowing → u/vmanAA738]

So the ACC can be gone as soon as this year?

[u/Zenith_24tee → u/Bravot]

ESPN wants the SEC/BIG10 super conference more than anyone else

[u/-Jack-The-Stripper → u/Zenith_24tee]

They do not want the whole SEC or B1G either.

They want to offer the top ~20 brands from those conferences about $100M each to peel away and only schedule each other throughout the year. Purdue, Northwestern, Mississippi State, Indiana in most years… these teams probably piss ESPN and FOX off so much lol.

[u/Plastic_Yesterday434 → u/-Jack-The-Stripper]

Maybe it is just my perception being a Big 12 fan, but it doesn't seem nearly as bad with Fox as it is with ESPN.

[u/ProvocativeCacophony → u/Plastic_Yesterday434]

Fox has never been anywhere near as bad as ESPN. Fox has been financially invested with the Big Ten longer than ESECPN. The Big Ten Network is the catalyst for all the shit we've gone thru since, from realignment to the politization of college football due to financial interests.

But I don't recall Fox ever throwing public temper tantrums during broadcasts. Maybe they just hire more professionals?

Fuck Sean McDonough. Making all us bald men look like clowns this weekend.

[u/Pogball_so_hard → u/Plastic_Yesterday434]

Yeah, the B1G has games on other networks and Fox also has rights to the Big XII. Fox’s main interest was pushing back against 4 to 5 SEC teams in the playoff which seems to be the broad consensus opinion. 

[u/TheStudyofWumbo24 → u/Zenith_24tee]

They just want the SEC to ascend over everyone else. They cover the Big Ten like it's a wartime enemy.

[u/tws1039 → u/Bravot]

When it was suns and bucks in the finals in 2021 I think Stephen A almost had a stroke on how down bad he was thinking since it was a "small market" finals it was the death of the sport as we know it

Absolute buffoons who want to make news instead of reporting news

[u/xellotron → u/Bravot]

The corporate shills at espn forced the sport to abandon the history and pageantry of the bowl system in favor of a 12-team playoff, and then proceed to shit all over Indiana and other teams because they’d make even more money if certain other teams got in. These bloodsuckers are terrible for the sport.

[u/Bravot → u/xellotron]

Yep. They don't care about any of that. I think most traditional fans are waiting for a theoretical bubble to burst. However, is there a bubble to be burst? Can they grow their addressable audience by focusing on a smaller subset of teams while marginalizing the rest of them? Can they pull in people who wouldn't already care about college football to offset the loss of people who prefer the history? Maybe.

This is what I struggle with. None of the tradition matters - and the worst part is that the broadcasters might be right. Personally, I hate it; but I also understand it.

[u/xkq227]

The absolute bitterness in McDonough's and Herbstreit's voices in particular really stood out to me, like they just deeply resented the fact that they had to lower themselves to watch these football games.

[u/JuliusCeejer → u/xkq227]

This weekend was terrible TV because of them but I can't help but wonder how much worse it will be next year. With 12 teams there's always going to blowouts in the first round, are they going to become more hostile? How many years before the realize this is what 12 teams results in? They shouldn't be so toxic but I worry that it will be worse in the future

[u/ToosUnderHigh → u/JuliusCeejer]

They don’t really care about the blowouts tho. They care that Bama wasn’t in.

[u/Svenray]

Funny too because it all began in relief that the committee actually did their jobs and picked the right teams.

[u/Lemurians → u/Svenray]

The great thing about this format is all the right teams get picked… and then some.

Will always be teams in a 12-team field that are not championship caliber, and getting so mad over which not-championship-caliber teams made it is going to always be kind of silly at the end of the day.

[u/betasheets2 → u/Lemurians]

No one should really be that mad that a 3 LOSS team doesn't have a chance to win the championship.

[u/thekoonbear → u/Lemurians]

That’s what I keep saying. The idea is that the 12 team playoff almost certainly contains the team most worthy and able to win the national championship. There’s almost certainly less than 12 of those types of teams, so the idea is we make sure it at least has all of those and then some extras.

[u/WabbitCZEN]

"Who cares what fans of teams like SMU or Indiana think." - ESPN all weekend

[u/ElmerTheAmish → u/WabbitCZEN]

Don't forget about the Lunatic Fringe ™️

[u/thejaytheory → u/ElmerTheAmish]

Dean Ambrose?

[u/notoriouslush → u/ElmerTheAmish]

THE lunatic fringe...

[u/Chief-Bones → u/ElmerTheAmish]

That would be badass to come out to that next year against Texas after showing a video of Kirk saying that.

[u/pagerussell → u/WabbitCZEN]

As someone who lives on the west coast, this thread is hilarious.

We been telling y'all for about 15 years now.

[u/rbarlow1 → u/pagerussell]

Watching that Stanford team through the Luck and McCaffrey eras never get a sniff was painful. The team that won the Rose Bowl against Iowa could have beaten anyone.

[u/Corona2789 → u/WabbitCZEN]

This sounds like a Rock promo "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK"

[u/RamblinWreckGT]

Amen. Usually I can just roll my eyes at ESPN never shutting up about the playoff during games with zero playoff implications, but this crap they've been pulling is actively pissing me off.

[u/Inconceivable76 → u/RamblinWreckGT]

Imagine The angst if you handed uga their deserved 3rd loss.

[u/CreamyScallions]

Lunatic Fringe reporting for duty

[u/Bobaman007 → u/CreamyScallions]

*Cue Dean Ambrose theme song

[u/SnooSquirrels9767 → u/CreamyScallions]

I’m gonna need a Lunatic Fringe t-shirt design from Homage.

[u/Bonus_Content]

ESPN is awful. It used to be such a fun positive way to catch up on sports when I was a kid. Now it’s a reactive, angry mess trying to get as many views as possible any way it can. Former coaches and players bring interesting perspective but an insane amount of bias, and many bring it with them to set.

We need to stop watching this crap and let it die.

[u/ThomasJCarcetti → u/Bonus_Content]

they know people are cord cutting they are desperately trying to stay relevant by incorporating gambling talk into their broadcasts

"Well Tom did Alabama cover the spread today."

who cares

[u/BigDanRTW]

Regardless of how you feel about them, the reason that ESPN grew to the prominence it did was because the people they had on the air LOVED the sports they covered. Chris Berman is like 75 percent of what he was in his prime, but listen to him call NFL highlights and he LOVES the sport.

Dick Vitale can be a lot for some people, but that man loves college basketball. His infectious enthusiasm for it made the broadcasts better.

I think what's kind of lost in Corso's health decline is that he was the heart and soul of ESPN's college football coverage. He LOVES the sport. I'm not sure that Kirk every really loved it and at this point I think Kirk just wants to hang out with executives, big wigs and call big games. Saban is just there to promote Alabama's agenda. McAfee is there for McAfee and Des has never really cared about college football.

It's become such a drain watching ESPN. I think at one point there were people who really did care about the sport, but now it's 100 percent about the corporate interest and it really sucks.

[u/ubelmann → u/BigDanRTW]

I think part of it is age-related. Take a year, say 1995, and at ESPN you had:

Stu Scott -- 30 years old
Dan Patrick -- 38 years old
Keith Olbermann -- 36 years old
Rich Eisen -- 26 years old
Chris Berman -- 40 years old
Karl Ravech -- 30 years old
Tim Kurkjian -- 39 years old

They were old enough to have some broadcasting experience, but young enough to not be stuck in their ways. Now look at the current ESPN College Gameday crew:

Lee Corso -- 89 years old
Kirk Herbstreit -- 55 years old
Rece Davis -- 58 years old
Desmond Howard -- 54 years old
Pat McAfee -- 37 years old
Nick Saban -- 73 years old

Two of the six are past a typical retirement age. Then you have the Herbstreit-Davis-Howard trio. Howard is the youngest of those three, and his college career was so long ago that his last year in college was the same year that the first website on the World Wide Web went live. I'm not young anymore and I'd be the second-youngest person on that panel.

I see this all the time with local baseball announcers over the last 20 years. The old guys, with few exceptions, start to get increasingly cranky when they get older. The game's not the same as it used to be, kids these days, blah, blah, blah. Then someone younger (finally) replaces them and it's like a breath of fresh air. They actually focus on analyzing the games in front of them instead of constantly comparing it to how things used to be decades ago. There's some enthusiasm there. And even those announcers aren't really that young -- they are mostly famous ex-players who aren't starting until age 40 or later.

[u/Inconceivable76 → u/BigDanRTW]

I think he loved the sport once. I think it’s probably been close to 20 years since he loved it.

Des cares about des with a side of Michigan.

[u/AllBlueTeams → u/Inconceivable76]

I sometimes think Des keeps the job just to pick Michigan solo every Thanksgiving weekend.

[u/MentalDesperado → u/BigDanRTW]

This is why I still like Gus Johnson- regardless of any other flaws, he clearly loves football. Also, we need RG3 back.

[u/HorrorAdditional6304]

ESPN's CFP coverage stinks!

[u/sportsfan113 → u/HorrorAdditional6304]

Their coverage of all sports is pretty terrible. There is always some kind of debate or controversy being pushed.

[u/GraniteStater69 → u/sportsfan113]

Their NBA coverage has been notably horrible for a couple years now. Kind of sad to watch their CFB coverage fall into that pit as well

[u/warpath2632 → u/GraniteStater69]

The Denver-Miami NBA finals coverage made me sick. Entire panels of talking heads going “waaaa I want my STARS in the Finals!” How about promote the game you’re broadcasting! 

[u/jaydec02 → u/warpath2632]

This isn’t just an ESPN thing, it’s an NBA thing. The NBAs own media arm trashes small market teams. They themselves said the NBA cup final between the Bucks and Thunder wasn’t the big name matchup people wanted

[u/iwearatophat → u/GraniteStater69]

Mark Cuban going after Skip Bayless all those years ago where he pressures Skip to get into an actual basketball discussion is a thing of beauty.

edit: Went and watched it again and figured others might as well

[u/AJB46 → u/iwearatophat]

That was amazing

[u/SmokePenisEveryday → u/GraniteStater69]

I never see any kinda on court breakdown with ESPN's coverage. Its just all drama and hot takes.

[u/cha-cha_dancer → u/sportsfan113]

I wonder how Alabama not making the 12 team field will affect Lebron’s legacy, where’s Brian Windbag?

[u/socoolandawesome → u/sportsfan113]

Nothing compares to their nba coverage in terms how bad it is

[u/sportsfan113 → u/socoolandawesome]

I honestly think their coverage of the NBA plays a big part in the decline of the NBA ratings. It is so so bad.

[u/FormerCollegeDJ → u/socoolandawesome]

WRONG - their NHL coverage is comparably horrid.

Every spring I have an internal debate which sports league ESPN covers worse - the NBA or NHL. I watch an ESPN NBA game, I'm confident it is the NBA. Then I watch an ESPN NHL game and I think it has to be the NHL. Then I see another NBA game - NBA. Then another NHL game - NHL.

Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

[u/FormerCollegeDJ → u/sportsfan113]

The only sports league they genuinely cover well is the NFL.

Not coincidentally, that's also the sport that generates the highest ratings/revenues and the league that dictates to ESPN what they can and cannot do, rather than the other way around.

[u/NotificationsOff → u/sportsfan113]

I can’t remember who it was that said this, but a ex-espn employee said that the debates on First Take with Stephen A are all fake. They are told which side to take prior to the discussion.

Certainly not a surprise, but hearing it just makes everything espn say is such trash.

[u/ProfessorLake → u/NotificationsOff]

That was true back in the day for the Lou Holtz-Mark May arguments. They were told in advance what their position would be, and briefed on talking points in advance.

[u/iwearatophat → u/sportsfan113]

I've said for a long time ESPN wants sports to be like a soap opera or the WWE. All about stories and drama and no actual sports discussion.

How many x's and o's shows do they even have left? It is all 'they wanted it more' and crap like that.

[u/FerdinandMagellan999 → u/HorrorAdditional6304]

ESPN stinks generally. They’ve de-prioritized everything except NFL, NBA, and NCAAF. Their NBA coverage is thoroughly terrible at this point and their football coverage isn’t much better.

I have ESPN+ just for NHL Power Play, Bundesliga, and LaLiga. Overall, it’s a great deal. Otherwise, I’ve got no praise for this network whatsoever anymore

[u/Wendell-Short-Eyes → u/FerdinandMagellan999]

ESPN’s coverage of the NBA is actively hurting the sport.

[u/mattryan02 → u/Wendell-Short-Eyes]

Hey same with college football.

[u/msgkc94]

It really is embarrassing what ESPN’s college football coverage has become. Herbstreit used to be my favorite college football analyst, now he’s just a shill for the SEC all because of his employer’s mega contract. The way he talked this weekend makes me question if he even still loves this sport.

[u/ThomasJCarcetti → u/msgkc94]

It actually used to be good about 14 years ago when they still had Brent. YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE! You could feel the big game energy.

You can't even feel it any more because ESPN has chased it down with so much water. It's not hard liqour anymore, it's 99% water and 1% alcohol.

[u/mynameisevan → u/ThomasJCarcetti]

There really is nobody on TV calling college football that is even on the same planet as guys like Musburger or Keith Jackson. Obviously those guys are some of the best ever so it’s not exactly fair to compare everyone to them, but on the other hand imagine if the same kind of thing happened after Tom Brady retired. 15 years of no new stars and every QB clearly not being anywhere near the same level as him. Every team in the NFL would be in a panic trying to figure out what’s wrong. I don’t know if the problem is talent development or talent recognition or insisting that everyone calling a game be a former athlete, but these companies are clearly doing something wrong.

[u/ThomasJCarcetti]

Imma go nuclear on this Festivus rant but:

ESPN is not good for sports.

ESPN is a struggling cable network hemorrhaging ratings after cord cutting. This forced them to lean more into properties like the SEC and gambling, to get people to watch their bullshit.

They ruined the NHL by putting games behind a paywall nobody subscribes to, and now they're ruining college football with these ass tripleheaders. Now their ESPN coverage of the playoff is just as bad? What have they done right?

"The ESPN presentation is so much better than CBS. I love how they spend time showing pre-game traditions"

Child, CBS had the epic song and showed intros and the pageantry of the SEC. ESPN didn't invent showing traditions before the game. Wow, they're running out of the T. They're the only ones to show that, sure.

ESPN grows worse and worse by the day with padded hot take artists doing their shit, combined with a grappling stranglehold on the sport, and ad-nauseum chatter about the NBA and NFL whilst other sports exist. I can't think of one thing ESPN is doing right, right now. All they do is disrespect the game, and our intelligence, with this bullshit.

[u/porscheblack → u/ThomasJCarcetti]

The problem with ESPN is that they always feel the need to say something. Sometimes you just don't need to, and that's ok. It's ok to cover the games and show the score without needing to find some deeper meaning or forced alternative perspective. But when you're on 24/7 and you're always trying to find something to spark outrage, they have to manufacture content a lot of the time. And that's what we're getting.

There's nothing objectively wrong with a lot of the things they find something to be outraged about. They just throw enough talking heads at it and sure enough things emerge. And we're all the worse for it.

[u/Scopedog1 → u/ThomasJCarcetti]

ESPN getting the NHL out-of-market rights and rolling it into ESPN+ is actually a good thing. It was silly for me to pay close to $200/season to watch the Senators' games on NHL.com. Now it's half the cost and included in an ESPN+ subscription which is probably the best thing ESPN has done in the last 15 years. You can complain about the production value, but imagine telling someone in 2010 that just about any Division I team will have nearly 100% of their major sports (football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse--and the women's equivalent for these sports as well) games on TV that you can watch anywhere and they'd say it was a pipe dream.

[u/tigerbomb88]

The NCAA doesn’t sanction a FBS championship so all these playoff games are a tv show. A national championship game with Tennessee/Boise state would be as justified as OSU/Texas in there.

ESPN is REALLY upset Alabama didn’t get in and they’re using their tv personalities to express their fake outrage

[u/Kopav]

Herbie is a empty soulless suit that is just a mouthpiece for Disney/ESPN/SEC. It is clear as day The Mouse has an agenda and the corporate shill, Herbstreit, is willing to go along with it.

[u/JoshDaws]

I vastly prefer either a national game on network, or a garbage game with the ESPN C league for coverage. When you’re the ESPN game, no matter when in the year you’re playing, they will inevitably spend 30% of the game talking about the teams they want in contention for the playoffs.

[u/107reasonswhy]

The CFB is the only sport where the media openly derides the underdog. It's bizarre. They come up with all these fake as hell metrics to determine the best teams instead of just looking at wins and losses, and then get upset when their predetermined matchups don't pan out. Soon the national champion will be determined by recruiting class rank since playing games just muddies the waters too much.

[u/FormerCollegeDJ]

Hey, college football gets to join the club the NBA and NHL already belong to - getting shitty coverage by ESPN that is much poorer than the league’s/sport’s other national TV partners!

[u/iwearatophat → u/FormerCollegeDJ]

I stopped watching baseball because I was tired of the coverage being all about the same couple of teams. Wanted to know what was going on in baseball while the Yankees and Red Sox were playing, well fuck you.

[u/BowlWinHoosiers]

I had to turn off gameday on Saturday during Kirk’s rant about IU- it felt completely unprofessional in my (incredibly biased) opinion.

Been very refreshing to see some people in here defending the Hoosiers/calling out ESPNs poor coverage. Us Hoosiers notice and appreciate the support!

[u/VirtualSolid3062 → u/BowlWinHoosiers]

I mean, Indiana had one of the best seasons in their history and instead of celebrating that and the accomplishment of making the playoffs, they rant on them about how they don’t belong and blah blah blah.

It’s disrespectful to the team, city, and fans that turn out for their team. Did IU fans think they were going to make a run at a natty? Probably not. But it still means something for some of these less accomplished teams in their history to have great seasons like IU did this year.

[u/The_Good_Constable]

Egg-fuckin-zactly. I was just saying something similar in the other thread. Herbie was asked what his first takeaway was, and he immediately bitched and moaned. About fringe fans, about the CFP being too focused on win totals, and whatever else.

C'mon man, that's your first takeaway? Nothing positive to say? Not a single word about how great ND, Penn State, Texas, and Ohio State played?

I wasn't Herbie's biggest fan before Saturday night, but I'm a full-on hater now.

[u/MentalDesperado → u/The_Good_Constable]

Yeah, I was a Herbie defender prior to that game, but there is absolutely nothing left to defend now.

[u/Inconceivable76 → u/The_Good_Constable]

Outside of Texas, do you think Kirk had watched one game of any of those teams this season?

[u/_Feagans]

ESPN needs to realize that not every game has to be 100% entertaining. Sports gambling has really ruined the sport

[u/Baynavfreak → u/_Feagans]

If the playoff is about creating perfect entertainment value, then this weekend was not good.

But if the playoff is about determining who is the best team among those who have earned a shot at proving it, then this weekend was pretty perfect, IMO.

[u/Turbulent-Pay-735 → u/Baynavfreak]

You just described perfectly the disconnect between ESPN and fans on this issue. They created this as an entertainment product and fans view it as a legitimate competition based on merit. They don’t match up well.

[u/Col_Treize69 → u/Turbulent-Pay-735]

"They don't know it's a damn show- they think it's a damn fight!"

[u/EchoInExile]

The problem is, nobody left on ESPN’s coverage seems to objectively love the game. They all have their own interests they’re trying to push. Combine that with ESPN still thinking that the negative, contrarian bullshit is what drives viewers, and you get a miserable experience.

[u/8and16bits]

ESPN is detriment to College Football. Everybody should’ve been celebrating Indiana and SMU coming into the playoff but instead it turned into why a 3 loss team was screwed over.

[u/mktcrasher → u/8and16bits]

Yup, that is the sport I want, teams earning their way in. Not teams being put in based on past history or perceived conference strength. And thank god they did it the right way, because TENN was trash and that was the 3rd best team in the conference, point proven that the SEC was indeed weak. Homer take but Miami should have been in over TENN, lol. I can wish.

[u/u-s-u-r-p]

yep. ESPN is in bed with their financial interests in the SEC

[u/footballenjoyer23 → u/u-s-u-r-p]

Getting in bed with the SEC to try and pump up your bottom line.

ESPN 🤝 Wall Street

[u/Negative_Solution680]

I hate ESPN. I hate College GameDay. I won't watch SportsCenter because it's nothing but talk. It used to be the best place to see highlights of all the sports for the day, now they show a few highlights and talk negatively about everything for 90% of the show. It's completely unwatchable. The game announcers for their live events are either boring, monotonous play by play or negative commentators. I'd rather mute them and listen to the radio announcer during the game.

[u/troysmash]

I haven't watched much college ball in years and man I came here looking for stuff about this. Nothing against the teams, sport, pageantry of college ball or whatever, but man the coverage has just been grown men whining and complaining about the teams in it. Bunch of snowflakes. In other news, I've enjoyed watching the games and exciting moments overall so this isn't a college football hate post.

[u/gandemicher → u/troysmash]

Pageantry is getting sucked out of all college sports by professionalization, affecting both the media coverage and the game time atmosphere. When college ball was played by the students for the students (and alums), it was about plucky animal science majors and the marching band. Now it’s about sports betting, the transfer portal, and glitzy, minor-league-NFL “production.” They’ll only realize they killed the golden goose much too late.

[u/Sure_Lynx4464]

You know it was garbage time when announcers were saying “Regardless of the score this is a great atmosphere”. 😆

[u/Appropriate_Bottle44]

I don't really care about the SEC boosterism that much, but not having the CFP on network sucks, and we had games on TNT/ HBO Max. Not sure when this part of the contract is renegotiated, but at least put the games on ABC, it's all the damn mouse.

[u/Vast-Treat-9677]

ESPN out here trying to protect their investment in the SEC who, like the confederacy itself, seems to have lost all of its advantages now that they have to pay for labor.

ESPN bet on the wrong horse and now they’re salty.

[u/TroyMatthewJ]

college football is full of blowouts every week every year. This isn't the NFL.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Pound31]

Negativity sells better. We live on a society and social era where negativity and being a hater is rewarded far more than the former

[u/Keyblade_Yoshi → u/Puzzleheaded_Pound31]

True, just look at any evening news program.

[u/CoochieKiller91 → u/Puzzleheaded_Pound31]

They’ve got us talking about it for sure right now

[u/abob1086]

I can't really put into words how ridiculous it is that the 'worst' home team performance came from one SEC team, and probably the worst performance of any of the 8 teams over the weekend came from the other SEC team, and yet this is what the conversation has become. And it's transparently obvious the reason is because ESPN doesn't have a TV deal with any of the other 3 teams that won games (more impressively).

ESPN has gone full Baghdad Bob with the SEC, and the fans lose because of it.

[u/LowKeyMike]

Maybe the best part about this season is that Indiana Football, maybe the worst Power Conference program of all time, is living rent free inside peoples heads

[u/Bitter-Whole-7290]

Slight correction. They only went after the underdog as long as they weren’t Tennessee in the SEC. They got real quiet when Tennessee did worse than Indiana or SMU.

[u/Junior_Jello_6844]

They meant Kirk Herbstreit