Dave Clark
ESPN hasn't named its new broadcast booth for Monday Night Football since moving on last month from Joe Tessitore and Anthony "Booger" McFarland after one season.
A report from frntofficesport.com's Michael McCarthy suggests that the network is waiting to see what happens with the upcoming college football season, and "will likely turn to its top college football broadcast team of analyst Kirk Herbstreit and play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler" if the college season is delayed or canceled.
More from McCarthy:
On the other hand, if college football kicks off on time this fall, ESPN would likely keep the college duo in their primetime perch on "ABC's Saturday Night Football" – and pick a new "MNF" team from a shortlist of internal candidates, including Louis Riddick, Dan Orlovsky, Pat McAfee, Steve Levy, Dave Pasch, and Brian Griese.
"It all hinges on when and if college football comes back," said a source. "If Herbstreit and Fowler are ESPN's best football booth, and a lot of execs at ESPN believe they are, why not have them call Monday Night? They call the College Football Playoff National Championship game every year."
Herbstreit, a former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback and self-proclaimed die-hard Cincinnati Reds fan from Centerville, Ohio, said in April on College GameDay that Bengals No. 1 draft pick Joe Burrow is going to play with less talent in Cincinnati than he did at LSU.
Herbstreit told TMZ in March that he'll be "shocked" if there's NFL or college football this fall because of COVID-19 pandemic.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly - a former Cincinnati Bearcats head coach - said, "Kirk does not know what he's talking about. I mean, really? For him to talk in those terms...he's not a scientist. He's a college football analyst, so we'll let the scientists determine those things."
LOVE FOOTBALL? [ Subscribe now for unlimited access to Cincinnati.com ]