ESPN Kicks Off Spring Football with Games & Return of Daily College Football Live
14 Spring Games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU & ESPN3.com; Month-long Bus Tour; College Football Live Returns April 4 with Special Urban Meyer “Spring Football 101” Series
ESPN will kick off an extensive schedule of spring college football programming, highlighted by spring practice telecasts of 14 teams and the return of the daily College Football Live with in-depth analysis, news, features, interviews and discussion.
Spring games will be presented across ESPN (three games), ESPN2 (one), ESPNU (one) and ESPN3.com (all 14, nine exclusively) beginning with Virginia on Saturday, April 2, at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3.com and Texas on Sunday, April 3, at 3 p.m. on ESPN. Joe Tessitore, Chris Spielman and Urban Meyer will work the Texas game, marking the first game Meyer will work for ESPN. Spring game telecasts will conclude with Oregon on ESPN2 on Saturday, April 30, at 4 p.m.
As part of its spring football coverage, ESPN’s DIRECTV satellite bus will originate from numerous campuses throughout April to provide interviews with coaches and players across multiple outlets, highlighted by College Football Live, SportsCenter and ESPNU programs. Scheduled stops include Texas (April 5), Oklahoma (April 6), TCU (April 7), LSU (April 8-9), Florida (April 11), Florida State (April 12), Alabama (April 13), Arkansas (April 15-16), Notre Dame (April 18), Ohio State (April 19), Michigan (April 20), Wisconsin (April 21), Nebraska (April 22), USC (April 25), UCLA (April 26), Stanford (April 27) and Oregon (April 29-30). Schedule is subject to change.
Spring Game Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Team | Network |
| Sat, April 2 | 2:30 p.m. | Virginia
John Sadak & Danny Kanell |
ESPN3.com |
| Sun, April 3 | 3 p.m. | Texas
Joe Tessitore, Chris Spielman & Urban Meyer |
ESPN / ESPN3.com |
| Sat, April 9 | 1 p.m. | South Carolina
Bill Rosinski & Randy Shannon |
ESPN3.com |
| 4 p.m. | LSU
Chris Fowler, Todd Blackledge & Jenn Brown |
ESPN / ESPN3.com | |
| 4 p.m. | Clemson *
TBA |
ESPN3.com | |
| 5 p.m. | Stanford
TBA |
ESPN3.com | |
| 6 p.m. | Mississippi State *
TBA |
ESPN3.com | |
| Sat, April 16 | 3 p.m. | Arkansas
Chris Fowler, Matt Millen & Mark May |
ESPN / ESPN3.com |
| 3 p.m. | Alabama
Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Tom Luginbill |
ESPNU / ESPN3.com | |
| 3 p.m. | Auburn *
TBA |
ESPN3.com | |
| 4 p.m. | Florida State
Bill Rosinski & Dan Hawkins |
ESPN3.com | |
| Sun, April 17 | 5 p.m. | Miami **
TBA |
ESPN3.com |
| Mon, April 18 | 5 p.m. | Ole Miss **
TBA |
ESPN3.com |
| Sat, April 30 | 4 p.m. | Oregon
Brent Musburger & Urban Meyer |
ESPN2 / ESPN3.com |
* Subject to blackout
** Subject to blackout; one-day delay
College Football Live
ESPN’s College Football Live will return Monday, April 4 and be aired generally at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN through the conclusion of the BCS National Championship Game on ESPN. Chris Fowler will host the first three days of programs with various top analysts including Desmond Howard, Jesse Palmer, Urban Meyer, Andre Ware and more. The College Football Live schedule will include telecasts at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5; ESPN2 Wednesday, April 6; and ESPNU Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8. The College Football Live Spring Practice Special will air Saturday, April 9, at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
The show will debut with a week-long “Spring Football 101” series by Meyer. The series will give viewers a unique look at how coaches prepare their teams during spring camp in hopes of setting the tone for the regular season. The schedule:
Monday, April 4 – Texas: Coach Mack Brown discusses the offseason changes and emotional introduction of the coaching staff to the players.
Tuesday, April 5 – Notre Dame: Coach Brian Kelly implements competitive drills for playmakers and utilizes a helmet camera in practice for his quarterbacks.
Wednesday, April 6 – Oregon: Coach Chip Kelly breaks down film and explains the Ducks’ spread offense.
Thursday, April 7 – Utah: Meyer, who coached Utah (2003-04), returns to the campus for the first time in six years to discuss the Utes’ move to the Pac-12 with his old defensive coordinator and current head coach Kyle Whittingham.
Friday, April 8 – Michigan: New head coach Brady Hoke’s hands-on approach stresses fundamentals as he tries to improve the team’s 110th ranked defense.
Throughout the offseason, College Football Live will offer:
A series of roundtable discussions with analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Palmer, Craig James, Meyer and Robert Smith, including an in-depth look of the top 20 pre-season teams over the month of May with one team discussed each day.
Special week-long themed topics leading up the beginning of the season. Themes include (specific weeks and additional themes will be announced):
College Football Live Top 25: The show will reveal its pre-season top 25 with a discussion on each team’s prospects heading into the 2011 campaign. Five teams will be unveiled each show.
Top 10 games of 2010: A look back at the 10 best games of the 2010 season.
Collision Course: A discussion about 10 highly anticipated games in 2011.
Who’s next?: A preview of the next top players who are expected to break out in 2011.
Big cleats to fill: A discussion on who will replace departing top players from teams across the sport.
Immediate impact: A look at incoming players who could have an immediate impact with their team.
Conference storylines: A discussion on storylines for each conference heading into the season.
