ESPN Leaves College Football Fans Divided with Announcement of New Show

While much of the narrative around ESPN lately has been around prominent layoffs, the 2026 college football season will bring some new faces, and now fans are having their say.

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Much of the talk around ESPN these days seems to surround the high profile layoffs and blue chip exits surrounding the worldwide leader in sports, but as the 2026 college football season kicks off, there will also be some new faces on the network.

ESPN is set to debut a new college football themed program, as Bussin’ & Pate on Campus is poised to hit the airwaves starting this year, with analyst Josh Pate and Bussin’ With The Boys co-hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan in the lead roles.

Officially, official 👏

'Bussin' & Pate on Campus' will air Fridays at 2p ET on ESPN during the '26-'27 college football season 🏈

📍 Sept. 4 | Baton Rouge, La. (Clemson-LSU) | ESPN2
📍 Sept. 11 | Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oklahoma-Michigan) | ESPN

More locations to come! pic.twitter.com/RSfzTeX3qD

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 13, 2026

While most college football programs predictably take on the Saturday atmosphere on campus, this show will focus more on the Friday before the storm.

“Friday is the build. Friday is the shaking up of the Saturday Coke bottle and you can feel the pressure building,” Pate said of the concept.

ESPN taking a larger CFB role

Bringing on a new college football show this season reflects the intention of ESPN president of content Burke Magnus, who said recently that the sport – the second-most popular in the country after the NFL – was not being adequately covered.

College football does indeed bring with it the second-largest television audience in the country, and ESPN does still own most of the rights, and with this new program, it’s placing a bet on taking a bigger chunk of the conversation around the sport.

Compton and Lewan built the Bussin’ brand back in 2019 with Barstool Sports and then made the decision to go independent last year on the heels of a reported $30 million deal with FanDuel. 

Pate has been a college football voice since 2015, starting on the radio before building The Late Kick, his own Facebook stream that developed into a program with 247Sports and then CBS Sports and finally On3 Sports, with more than 500,000 YouTube subs.

College football fans are split

USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

It’s safe to say the announcement of the program has divided fans even before it gets on the air.

“Congrats to the fellas,” ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said in response to the news.

Another commenter noted: “Can’t tell if this is going to be a good or hard watch.”

Some others are already taking issue with the perceived “bro” quality of the brand.

“No interest in this. I’ll just wait for games to kick off. Don’t need more frat boys on tv,” one person said.

Another liked the idea of a Friday show: “Friday afternoon makes total sense on having a show… Then is the best time to do it.”

Some others think the name needs a rethink: “ESPN creative team really thought hard and long with this name.” Another said: “That name… I think they have an ointment for that.”

“ESPN becoming watchable again,” said one hopeful commenter, while another added: “I’m good for anything that’s on campus.” And a third said: “This is like Christmas morning!”

Christmas comes early in September this year, as the 2026 college football season finally gets underway, and with it a new show for fans to try out.