There are all sorts of playoff football going on, from the second round of the College Football Playoff to the NFL, and it doesn’t matter if you’re more a CFP or more an NFL fan, we have you covered on the Last Word on Sports Media Podcast.
TJ Rives was joined this week by Last Word on Sports Media writer and Jones Report podcast host Tyler Jones talking all things college football and NFL playoffs, along with a look at the ratings and how they are now tabulated and NBC’s search for a new baseball broadcaster.
TJ And Tyler Talks CFP Second Round
How long before the powers that be turn it into a 16-team bracket?
It may only be the second year that college football has had the 12-team playoff, but TJ is now wholly convinced that the College Football Playoff will soon be a 16-team even thanks to how teams with the bye have fared. After eight games over two years where a team with the bye has gone up against a team that hasn’t had extra time off, the team with the bye is now 1-7 (the only win being Indiana’s victory over Alabama in this year’s Rose Bowl). And only one of this year’s games was decided by less than a touchdown (Ole Miss’s 39-34 comeback win over Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl).
Still, both TJ and Tyler had plenty of praise when it came to how ESPN handled this past week’s coverage of the quarterfinal matchups.
“Everything ESPN does with college football feels like a big deal,” Tyler said. “From [Chris] Fowler and [Kirk] Herbstreit on down, they present the sport as well as anyone.”
And despite a lack of competitive contests, the ratings continued to thrive when it came to bowl matchups. TJ said that ESPN reported Rose Bowl ratings between Indiana and Alabama were up 37 percent from last year, with over 24 million people watching the game. But he also points out the with how Nielsen has changed their data gathering metrics for out-of-home viewing, every audience number has increased significantly. And Tyler says that with next year’s games being on network television, that number will go up again for next season.
ESPN giving more ways to watch CFP than ever
The guys also talk about how ESPN is giving viewers more ways to consume the CFP than ever, with over 20 different versions of the game through their Megacast. Tyler mentioned that his favorite used to be the “film room” cast featuring former coaches breaking down the game, which they have stopped doing. TJ postulated that it was too costly for the number of viewers it was getting. So now, Tyler says he sticks to Old Faithful.
“Why would I leave the traditional broadcast for a championship-level game?” he rhetorically asked. “Unless it’s a blowout, I’m sticking with Fowler and Herbstreit.”
Both guys did say that one of the most popular alternative broadcasts is the local radio broadcast calls synced witht the television feed.
Drama ends NFL regular season
TJ and Tyler were both highly praising of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth on their call of the Sunday Night regular season finale as the Baltimore Ravens missed a last-second field goal to miss the playoffs (and end John Harbaugh’s tenure with the team). Both pointed out the postgame discussion of the priest dousing the end zone with holy water before the game (captured by the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh), as well as the meme of what Tyler Loop’s last-second miss meant for each team’s head coach.
The butterfly effect of Tyler Loop’s kick is INSANE…
He makes the kick, Tomlin is likely fired & Ravens are playoff bound.
He misses the kick, Harbaugh is fired & Steelers are playoff bound. pic.twitter.com/2Cq32DqC1t
— Kicks (@kicks) January 6, 2026
NBC’s baseball voice search narrows
The guys also broke down NBC’s search for their play-by-play voice for their upcoming Sunday Night baseball package. Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti’s name has been mentioned as a possibility, as has Orioles TV voice Kevin Brown. TJ recounts seeing Benetti late in the NFL season this year and how he was going from calling the Buccaneers-Panthers game on radio in Tampa on Thursday night, to doing a Fox college basketball game in Storrs, Connecticut the next day, to broadcasting the Panthers-Saints game Sunday, and doing another college basketball game for Fox on Monday. They also talk about Brown’s suspension by the Orioles a couple of years ago for mentioning something in the day’s game notes written by the team’s PR staff.
