“Debuting the expanded College Football Playoff at Notre Dame is a full circle moment” for ESPN’s game-scheduler, Irish alum

The kickoff of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff this weekend is historic for many reasons. One of the most exciting aspects is that First Round games will be played on campus sites for the first time.

The first of those four games – No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame – will air Friday in primetime at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and ABC – and across other platforms as part of ESPN’s signature Megacast presentation.

The battle of Hoosier State programs marks the first Fighting Irish home football game to air on ESPN in 34 years. That fall Saturday on Nov. 17, 1990, featured a matchup of ranked teams in the shadow of the golden dome in South Bend, Indiana, as the crew of Ron Franklin, Gary Danielson and reporter Neil Lomax called No. 18 Penn State’s 24-21 upset of top-ranked Notre Dame. Watch the opening of that telecast in the video above.

One person who attended that game was ESPN senior director of programming Kurt Dargis, a Notre Dame undergraduate student at the time. Dargis, a 29-year ESPN employee, is now the lead college football game-scheduler. He will return to his alma mater this weekend for work – and as a proud alum.

“Debuting the expanded College Football Playoff at Notre Dame is a full circle moment for me,” said Dargis. “I was a senior in the fall of 1990 and was in attendance for that Penn State game – my last home game as a student. Unfortunately, I remember it vividly. The Irish led 21-7 at halftime but [Notre Dame star receiver Raghib] “Rocket” Ismail was injured late in the first half and Penn State rallied for the victory.”

Dargis added: “To come back to campus after 34 years for this historic game will be a thrill for me and so satisfying for all of us who have worked for months to make the initial 12-team College Football Playoff a massive success.”

ESPN VP PRODUCTION AND PENN STATE ALUM AMANDA GIFFORD
CHERISHES RETURN TO HAPPY VALLEY FOR CFP GAME

 

ESPN crews will produce all four First Round games of the expanded College Football Playoff, including the Saturday afternoon games – No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State (noon ET) and No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas (4 p.m.) – that will air on TNT & MAX as part of a sublicense agreement announced in May. With one of the games set for State College, Pennsylvania, Vice President Amanda Gifford will get the chance to return to her alma mater for the first time since she assumed oversight of ESPN’s college football game productions in 2023.

A recipient of Penn State’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2014, Gifford reflects upon her much-anticipated return to Happy Valley.

“Working in college football has been such a fantastic experience the last two years, but being involved with the inaugural expanded Playoff with a home game at my alma mater might just take the cake,” said Gifford.

She added: “I’ve been to so many great college football venues, but there’s nothing like a ‘white out’ at Beaver Stadium. Nothing! When the drum major brings the team on to the field and the cheers of, “We are…Penn State,” reverberate throughout the stadium just minutes before kickoff, it will really be a true ‘pinch me’ moment.”