Todd Blackledge, ESPN's No. 2 analyst, reportedly departs to join new prime-time broadcast team
Todd Blackledge is on the move.
ESPN’s No. 2 college football analyst is reportedly set to leave ESPN and the crew with Sean McDonough and Molly McGrath, to join NBC and its new Big Ten package, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. The report added that Blackledge will be paired with 26-year-old play-by-play voice Noah Eagle. Blackledge was on the call for ESPN of the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday.
Blackledge, 61, is expected to join his third network after he previously called games at CBS and ESPN. He is expected to call the national championship on ESPN Radio on Monday, which will be his final assignment with the network. He is considered ESPN’s No. 2 college football game analyst behind Kirk Herbstreit.
Maria Taylor will lead studio efforts for NBC’s Big Ten coverage.
In the upcoming seasons, the Big Ten will have a new football presentation, which won’t include ESPN for the first time in nearly 40 years. Fox will have its Big Noon Kickoff, while CBS will handle the 3:30 window, and then Eagle and Blackledge will be in prime time.
well that just sucks…Blackledge and McDonough are THE BEST announcers in CFB,
despite all the ESPN PR for the Chris Fowler nonstop demo reel.
Dude is STILL calling TDs when the runner is 10+ yds from the end zone.
We’re still waiting for Kenny to score that touchdown that Fowler called on the 25 the other night.
He and Herbstreit cannot stand 0.25 seconds of dead air. They love the sound of each other’s voice so much they should marry.
@Tide Tidefan is actually Chuck Woolery.
I agree 100%, they are the best in the business.
So if the Big Ten is in prime time on NBC, where does precious Notre Dame end up?
I still say the SEC made a mistake selling their souls to ESPN for everything, unless the SEC gets the prime time Saturday slot on ABC.
Todd is an great analyst & has done a wonderful job…my favorite to say the least. He is not #2 behind Herbie. Todd has more football knowledge than Herbie ever knew. A big loss for ESPN.
I hate to hear that. I like Todd Blackledge. I have come to the point that I like him better than Kirk “take a peek” Herbstreit.
Herbie is okay but he has a verbal tick that annoys me. He always refers to everything as “that”.
For instance, “that secondary”, “that defense”, “that offensive line”, etc.
It’s be nice if he’d throw in a “the” once in a while. Worse, newbie ESPN announcers have started to parrot Kirk’s affectation.
He would be a lot better if he would learn that a moment of silence is not a bad thing, and that if he wants to officiate, he needs to leave broadcasting.
Blackledge was one of the best. Hate to see him go. Now the SEC is left with Stinchcomb and a bunch of other sorry announcers…
Omg Stichcomb is awful. I call him Matt “We Talked About It” Stinchcomb because between every play he’ll point out how the crew “talked about” (predicted) whatever just happened.
I literally mute the games he calls sometimes. He and RG3 are hard to listen to.
RG3 is just terrible.
Agreed. RG3 is in the wrong business for sure.
I always looked forward to the “Todd’s Taste of the Town” segment during his games.
That was one of my favorite spots too. He played at Penn State, so I guess he was ready to go home. He probably got paid a boat load also.