GUS JOHNSON, JOEL KLATT & SHANNON SPAKE HEADLINE
FOX SPORTS' COLLEGE FOOTBALL BROADCASTER LINEUP
New York - With kickoff of the 2016 college football season right around the corner, FOX Sports readies itself for the network's best schedule ever by today unveiling its full lineup of game and studio broadcasters. Wednesday's announcement was made by John Entz, President of Production & Executive Producer, FOX Sports.
"We are incredibly excited about this year's group of broadcasters," Entz said. "We have a great combination of FOX Sports veterans and newcomers to the network who all bring tremendous experience and lend unique voices to our game broadcasts and studio programming."
Play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson and analyst Joel Klatt return as FOX Sports' lead college football voices in the booth and welcome veteran reporter Shannon Spake on the sidelines. Johnson, Klatt and Spake kick off the season on Friday, Sept. 2, as Stanford, led by last year's Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey, hosts K-State at 9:00 PM ET on FS1. The trio also has the call for the mammoth showdown between Ohio State and Oklahoma on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 PM ET on the FOX broadcast network, as well as the Foster Farms Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 8:30 PM ET on FOX.
Also returning to the FOX Sports broadcast booth are play-by-play announcer Joe Davis and analyst Brady Quinn, this season joined by sideline reporter Jenny Taft, who served in a similar capacity two seasons ago and provided game-break updates throughout the 2015 campaign. Play-by-play announcer Tim Brando and analyst Spencer Tillman also return in 2016 and are joined by college football insider Bruce Feldman, who reports from the sidelines most weeks. Also calling games on FS1, play-by-play announcer Justin Kutcher is joined by Steve Sarkisian, formerly head coach at USC and Washington, and Petros Papadakis in the analyst's chair.
FOX Sports' college football studio returns several familiar faces, as pregame, halftime and postgame coverage is hosted by Rob Stone with analysts Matt Leinart and Dave Wannstedt who are now joined at the desk by Robert Smith, a former Ohio State star and eight-year NFL veteran running back. Chris Spielman, a full-time FOX NFL game analyst this season, also contributes to the network's college football coverage, as do insiders Feldman and Stewart Mandel, who also maintain a significant presence on FOXSports.com, including the return of their popular podcast, "The Audible." Mike Pereira also returns as FOX Sports' rules expert.
Before the 2016 season officially gets underway, FOX Sports presents the FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKOFF preview show. Stone is joined by Klatt, Leinart, Smith and Wannstedt to discuss the top storylines heading into the new campaign. The program premieres Sunday, Aug. 28, at 12:00 PM ET on the FOX broadcast network and re-airs several times during the following week on FS1.
This season, FOX Sports televises top games from the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences, plus the Pac-12 and Big Ten championship games. The FOX broadcast network is also home to one of the sport's biggest non-conference matchups, a Week 3 showdown between 2016 College Football Playoff semifinalist Oklahoma and 2015 national champion Ohio State in prime time on Saturday, Sept. 17.
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