NBC Sports has officially announced the launch of a new studio show for its prime time football games titled B1G College Countdown. The program will emanate from the site of the network’s showcase game that week – the first of which will be at Penn State University when the Nittany Lions host the West Virginia Mountaineers starting at 7 p.m. EST. Following the new program is the premiere of B1G Ten Saturday Night, which features a new commentary team of Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen. The B1G College Countdown panel will return at halftime from each game to provide commentary, highlights and analysis throughout the contests, 11 of which are Big Ten games and two at Notre Dame.
“The college football atmosphere is unlike anything in sports and that’s why we’re going to be on campus every week with B1G College Countdown,” Sam Flood, executive producer at NBC Sports, said in a statement. “….We can’t wait to kick things off on September 2 from Happy Valley.”
Anchoring the program is Maria Taylor, who also hosts Football Night in America, the most-watched studio program in all of professional sports. Since joining NBC in 2021, Taylor has been a critical part of the network’s coverage – including for Super Bowl LVI and the Olympic Games in both Beijing and Tokyo. The co-host of the program is Ahmed Fareed, who currently works on different NBC Sports properties including MLB Sunday Leadoff.
Joining Taylor and Fareed on the desk are analysts Matt Cassel, Joshua Perry and Michael Robinson, all of whom are former professional football players.
Cassel was an NFL quarterback over 14 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots among other teams. While he was in college, he won two national championships as a backup quarterback for the USC Trojans.
Perry was a linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes and won the first College Football Playoff National Championship in 2014. Upon making it to the NFL, he struggled with injuries and retired after two seasons and pursued a career in sports media. Perry has appeared on the Big Ten Network and on sports radio in Columbus, Ohio.
Robinson works as an analyst for NBC Sports’ coverage of the United States Football League (USFL) after spending eight seasons in the NFL. While he was a member of the Seattle Seahawks, he won Super Bowl XLVIII and retired following the championship game. Before his NFL career, he was the starting quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions and led the team to the conference championship in 2005. Since his time on the gridiron came to an end, Robinson has worked on NFL Network across its studio programming and is working as a television analyst during the preseason for the Seattle Seahawks.
“Matt, Joshua and Michael hail from three of the most fabled programs and energized scenes in college football – USC, Ohio State and Penn State, [respectively],” Flood said. “Ahmed grew up in Big Ten country and has a deep passion for the sport and its fans. As the host of the NFL’s show of record and a two-sport collegiate athlete, Maria is the perfect choice to lead this new Saturday night tradition.”
Lindsay Schanzer, the winner of six Sports Emmy awards and former production intern with the YES Network, will produce the new show. Aside from her new role in football coverage, Schanzer works as the company’s senior producer for horse racing and has credits on Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America. Kaare Numme, the director of Football Night in America, will be joined by Jared Sumner to direct the new program. Both have vast experience with significant sports properties and will aim to create a stellar product with the new studio show.
NBC Sports landed part of the Big Ten Conference broadcast rights in a historic seven-year media rights agreement with CBS and FOX, reportedly worth more than $8 billion. The deal was closed while Pete Bevacqua served as chairman of NBC Sports, and he has since joined Notre Dame Athletics to become its athletic director next year. Notre Dame is in the midst of media rights negotiations with NBC Sports and is aiming to triple its fee to televise home games, which averaged 2.43 million viewers last season. If it is unsuccessful, the team could consider forgoing its unique media independence and join a Power Five conference.
Kyle Rudolph was reportedly set to join NBC Sports’ Big Ten coverage to call select games, but he was not revealed as part of the group of on-air talent in the announcement. The network also reportedly targeted J.J. Watt to join the coverage before he signed with CBS Sports. That being said, more Big Ten football games have yet to be revealed and will gradually be divulged 12 days prior to the scheduled game date. All prime time Big Ten games will also be available for consumers to stream on Peacock.
Will this group also do halftime for ND games. They have 2 ND games in Primetime this year both featuring current (OSU) and Future (USC) Big10 schools.