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ESPN announces new contract for long-time college football analyst
By Keith Farner
Published:
Former Penn State quarterback Todd Blackledge has signed a multi-year contract extension as a color analyst with ESPN and ABC.
Blackledge has called a College Football Semifinal each year since the College Football Playoff began in 2014. A veteran broadcaster, ESPN also said that Blackledge has called 10 national championships on ESPN Radio since 2006.
Blackledge originally began with ESPN in 1994 and returned to ESPN and ABC in 2006, calling prime-time games regularly during the season.
“I feel truly blessed and thankful to continue calling games on ESPN,” Blackledge said in the ESPN announcement. “Over the last decade plus, I have traveled to the best venues and some of the sport’s best atmospheres, calling great games, major bowl matchups and, now, the College Football Playoff. More importantly, I have been privileged to work alongside some of the best partners in the business: the late John Saunders, Brad Nessler, Mike Patrick, Joe Tessitore, and Mike Tirico in the past and my current team of Sean McDonough and Holly Rowe. Each one has helped elevate my career and I am forever indebted.”
Media writer Richard Deitsch of The Athletic tweeted that former SEC on CBS play-by-play voice Verne Lundquist called Blackledge one of his favorite partners. Blackledge was the lead color analyst of the SEC on CBS from 1999–2005.
In the ESPN release, Blackledge listed his most memorable games:
2007: East Carolina at Virginia Tech, the Hokies’ first game following the tragedy in April of the same year
2014: Boston College upsets USC in the first annual Red Bandana game at Alumni Stadium.
2014: Baylor scores 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat TCU, 61-58.
2015: Ohio State beats Alabama in the inaugural year of the CFP Semifinals.
2016: Texas defeats Notre Dame in overtime to begin the 2016 season.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
