The inaugural College Football Playoff Championship has engendered hopes for glory and programming opportunities for the networks with teams in the game on Monday night.
Pac-12 Networks, whose national service and one of its sub-regional, covers the Oregon Ducks, and Big Ten Network, which presents game and related fare around the Ohio State Buckeyes, are gearing up for the Jan. 12 battle at AT&T Stadium.
Pac-12 Networks, which aired a new installment of Pac-12 Football Weekly on Jan. 6, in which Rick Neuheisel and Yogi Roth break down the matchup and reports from Eugene throughout the week, has established a dedicated microsite within Pac-12.com, with coverage from Saturday’s media in Dallas, plus additional videos and written content.
The programmer will kick off a preview special on Sunday at 7 p.m. (PT). The 60-minute Win the Day: National Championship Preview features host Mike Yam and analysts Curtis Conway and Neuheisel offering a look at the Ducks’ road to Dallas and what it will take for Oregon to bring home its first national title in football. Additionally, Ashley Adamson will be on the scene in Big D, giving viewers an up close look at the atmosphere.
On Monday, Adamson, former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and Jill Savage are live from the field in Dallas with Yam, Neuheisel and Conway in San Francisco for the College Football Playoff Championship Pregame Show, Presented by GameFly, beginning at 4 p.m..(PT). The 60-minute pregame show will include a live interview with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, plus other notable guests on site in Dallas. Additionally, Aliotti, Neuheisel and Conway will give viewers the final word before kick on who will win and why.
Immediately following the game, the group returns for a 90-minute College Football Playoff Championship Postgame Report, Presented by GameFly featuring highlights, live interviews from the field, postgame press conference sound and analysis of the game.
All shows and specials will air live across all seven linear networks and online at Pac-12.com and on the Pac-12 Now app.
For its part, Big Ten Network is also going big with title tilt coverage. On Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m.(ET), BTN Finale sets up shop at the Dallas Convention Center with Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Glen Mason. The show will also air at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
BTN has secured the rights to the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl, and will give its subscribers to relive Ohio State’s upset over top-ranked Alabama on Jan. 1. ESPN's telecast of the exciting contest garnered the largest audience in cable history.
At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the service will serve up the Football Championship Preview Show, with the crew dissecting the matchup and keys. The show will originate from AT&T Stadium, with the BTN set located on the plaza outside of Gate H.
Monday is all about THE Ohio State. BTN’s “Buckeye Block” encompasses replays of key matchups past: the 2010 Rose Bowl against Oregon at 8 a.m.. and condensed versions of Football in 60 will feature the squad in games from the 2014 season versus Penn State at 10 a.m, followed on the hour by Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan.
BTN will then devote two hours to OSU’s demolition of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game at 2 p.m. and another 2015 Sugar Bowl reprise at 4 p.m.
BTN Live, with segments from Dallas, rolls at 6 p.m., leading into the Football Championship Pregame Show, which will also include a pair of one-on-one interviews from earlier in the week in with Sugar Bowl MVP Ezekiel Elliot, and offensive coordinator Ed Warinner.
Guests on the show will include Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, and former Buckeye standouts Eddie George, Troy Smith, Beanie Wells, Troy Smith, Mike Doss and Bobby Carpenter, among others.
The BTN game plan calls for Football Championship Halftime Show and Football Championship Postgame Show at the appropriate times.
