ESPN Announces College Football Studio Lineup, New Roles for Riggs, Orlovsky - ESPN Press Room U.S.

ESPN Announces College Football Studio Lineup, New Roles for Riggs, Orlovsky

College Football

ESPN Announces College Football Studio Lineup, New Roles for Riggs, Orlovsky

With the 2023 college football campaign kicking off, ESPN welcomes several new studio pairings for its college football daily programming and studio wraps this fall.

SportsCenter anchor and ACC Network studio host Kelsey Riggs takes over hosting duties for College Football Live. Riggs, who will host the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday episodes of the show, was also recently named the new host of ACC Huddle on ACC Network. The former Charleston Southern soccer standout has been with ESPN since ACCN’s launch in 2019. Jen Lada will continue to host Friday editions of College Football Live from campus sites as part of her role on College GameDay Built by The Home Depot. The show will feature a rotation of college football analysts throughout the season.

NFL and college football analyst Dan Orlovsky will join ABC’s veteran studio team of Kevin Negandhi and Booger McFarland on select Saturdays throughout the fall. Orlovsky shifts from the college football booth to the studio desk, as well as continuing his standout role on the Sports Emmy-nominated NFL Live and calling NFL games with Chris Fowler, Louis Riddick and Laura Rutledge.

Negandhi and McFarland team up for their fourth straight season in studio together, wrapping up Saturday action on ABC for the 2023-24 campaign. McFarland and Negandhi also worked together on ABC wraps during the 2017 season. Beyond college football, McFarland contributes to studio programming across ESPN platforms, including Get UpSportsCenter, the annual NFL Draft presentation and Super Bowl week. Negandhi has anchored ABC’s college football studio coverage since 2017, and also hosts ESPN’s coverage of the Special Olympic World Games, the 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter and more.

Barrie and Galloway Match Up with Mullen on ESPN
ESPN college football analyst Dan Mullen continues his studio role on Saturdays during the season, shifting to ESPN and joining SportsCenter anchor Matt Barrie and longtime ESPN analyst Joey Galloway, who recently signed a new deal with the network. Galloway, now in his 13th season with ESPN, will contribute analysis to marquee ESPN college football programming throughout the season. In addition to their traditional studio wraps, Barrie, Galloway and Mullen will also close out each Saturday with College Football Final, highlighting the day in college football. Barrie and Mullen are also teamed up with Harry Lyles Jr for ESPN Thursday Night Primetime this fall.

Connors and Acho Return to ESPN2
Anchor Kevin Connors, who is beginning his fifth season on the ESPN2 desk, and analyst Sam Acho return to the ESPN2 studio crew. Connors’ wide-ranging studio assignments include regular editions of SportsCenter, college football and basketball wraps, as well as Major League Baseball. He has handled play-by-play for college basketball and MLB games on ESPN as well. Acho is back for his third season with ESPN and has appeared across a variety of ESPN studio programming, including SportsCenter and College Football Live, as well as ESPN’s championship coverage of the College Football Playoff. The Texas Ex is also a booth analyst for XFL on ESPN and ABC.

Amanda Brooks

Amanda is the Senior Director of Communications overseeing publicity strategy for ESPN’s entire college sports portfolio, including college football and the College Football Playoff, 40 NCAA Championships and ESPN's college networks. Amanda is a proud alum of Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., and earned her master's in ethics from Vanderbilt University. A native of Kent, Ohio, she is a die-hard Cleveland Guardians fan.
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