ESPN has made sweeping changes to the schedule to make way for the college football national championship game.
Ohio State will face Notre Dame for the title on Monday 20 January at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
ESPN has a whole day of shows planned to build up to the college football title game[/caption]
Ohio State beat Texas Friday night to book a spot in the championship against Notre Dame[/caption]
The game will kick off at 7.30 pm ET live on ESPN.
And the network has a whole day of programming planned in buildup to the game.
Get Up! and First Take will begin the day as usual from 8 am ET and 10 am ET respectively.
The Pat McAfee Show is also scheduled to be on as normal from 12 pm ET until 2 pm ET.
But McAfee is likely to be on location in Atlanta, Georgia rather than in the show’s Indianapolis studio.
ESPN usually then shows SportsCenter from 2 pm ET.
And that is followed by NFL Live as well as NBA Today into the afternoon.
But on January 20, ESPN will instead show College Football Live at 2 pm ET.
That will lead into Championship Drive from 3 pm ET.
Pardon The Interruption is scheduled to be screened at 4.30 pm ET.
And that will lead into a special championship edition of College GameDay from 5 pm ET.
The show usually screens every Saturday morning during the college football season.
It stars McAfee alongside Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso.
The broadcast of the national championship will then begin at 7 pm ET, 30 minutes ahead of kickoff.
And it will be followed at 11.30 pm ET by SportsCenter with Scott van Pelt.
How the 12-team CFP works
The first ever 12-team College Football Playoff kicks off on Friday, December 20.
But who will get in?
The highest four ranked conference champions will all be guaranteed a first-round bye into the quarterfinals around New Year.
The fifth highest ranked conference champion will also be assured a place, regardless of if they’re ranked in the top 12 teams in the nation.
That ensures a champion from one of the second tier of conferences will get a chance to play for the national championship.
Teams seeded five through eight will host a first round playoff game on Friday, 20 or Saturday 21 December.
And they will go up against the teams seeded nine through 12.
All of these rankings and seedings are decided by the CFP committee – based on record and strength of schedule among other factors.
This year’s National Championship Game will take place on Monday, January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
ESPN is used to having Monday Night Football NFL games to show live.
But MNF wraps up with the wild card round game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings on January 13.
NFL Live will still air on January 20, but it will be shown on ESPN2 rather than the main channel.
ESPN2 will also show Around The Horn that day.
Notre Dame vs Ohio State is the culmination of the first ever 12-team CFP, which began a week before Christmas.
