SEC football fans already know the familiar broadcast team of Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson won’t be calling the league’s weekly 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff each Saturday this fall.
The SEC announced in late 2020 that it would part ways with CBS after the 2023 season and would move its marquee game of the week to ABC beginning in 2024. That begins next weekend when Florida hosts Miami in Gainesville in the 3:30 p.m window on ABC. ESPN says it will boast “brand new graphics and animation package” for the weekly 3:30 game.
As for who will call the new “SEC on ABC” games?
ESPN unveiled its 2024 college football broadcast teams this week, and as part of that announcement, the WWL (Worldwide Leader) revealed that SEC fans won’t have the same broadcast team each week in the 3:30 slot the way it did for years with Nessler and Danielson — and previously Danielson and Verne Lundquist.
Instead, ESPN/ABC plans to use a trio of broadcast teams that will consist of their top three college football crews. That includes the network’s No. 1 team of Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline reporter).
Fowler and Herbstreit have called the College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN since 2014.
ESPN/ABC’s No. 2 team of Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst) and Molly McGrath (sideline reporter) will also call select 3:30 SEC on ABC games, as will the network’s No. 3 crew of Joe Tessitore (play-by-play), Jesse Palmer (analyst) and Katie George (sideline).
Kentucky will appear in the “SEC on ABC” window in Week 2 when South Carolina visits Lexington in the 3:30 time slot.
The Wildcats open the season at Kroger Field in prime time against Southern Miss at 7:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network. ESPN announced this week that its “SEC Saturday Night” trio of Tom Hart (play-by-play), Jordan Rodgers (analyst) and Cole Cubelic (analyst/sideline) will be on the call for Kentucky vs. Southern Miss.
Over on CBS, Nessler and Danielson aren’t going anywhere. The duo, which called SEC on CBS games from 2017-23, will stay in the 3:30 window as CBS shifts its weekly game of the week to Big Ten games.