Desmond Howard says he doesn’t view Big Noon Kickoff as a College GameDay rival
By Mark Kern
Published:
Desmond Howard has been a focal member of ESPN’s College Gameday, providing college football fans with all kinds of coverage before the games start every Saturday. He is entering his 21st season on the show alongside Rece Davis, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit.
FOX started its own flagship pregame show in ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ with the hopes of giving ESPN some competition. They made headlines when they recently announced a partnership where Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports would be joining the coverage.
While they may be competing for viewers in the same time slot, the former Michigan star and Heisman Trophy winner doesn’t view Big Noon Kickoff as a rival for College GameDay. Instead, he says his show competes with a pregame show in another sport — ‘Inside the NBA.’
“This must be their move to try and offset what we have with [Pat] McAfee, I’m assuming,” Howard told Barrett Media about the addition of Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff. “They want to compete. I like those guys. To me, our competitor has been the ‘NBA on TNT’ because we’re always battling against them for the Sports Emmy. No disrespect to those guys [Big Noon Kickoff], I’m sure they do a fantastic job.”
Howard also told Barrett Media he was unaware that Portnoy had been hired by FOX.
The first College GameDay of the season will be in Columbus on Aug. 30 when No. 1 Texas travels to take on defending national champion and No. 3 ranked Ohio State in a CFP semifinal rematch from last season. Big Noon Kickoff will also stage a show in Columbus that day.
