Good Lookin' Out, ESPN

College football fans everywhere, I have great news for you: Paul Maguire will not be involved in our sport anymore. According to a report by USA Today, ESPN (and ABC, by extension) have decided to shake up their announcing teams. I'm not a big fan of changing teams because you never know if guys will be able to replicate the chemistry that they have with a particular partner, but in this case, I'm all for it. Let's break it down, shall we?

-- Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit remain on the primetime ABC game. Great move; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I love Big Game Brent, I love Herbie, and I love them together.

-- Sean McDonough and Matt Millen will do the main ABC afternoon game. I'm ok with this. Yes, Millen was atrocious as an NFL GM (I still feel for you, Detroit), but he was a good game analyst for Fox before departing for the Lions' front office. McDonough is one of the best, most professional announcers in the business; I could listen to him do any sport at any time. He's fabulous. I feel like this team has a lot of potential. As long as the chemistry's there, they're going to be fun to listen to.

-- Brad Nessler is moving to ESPN night games with Todd Blackledge. Nessler is my favorite play-by-play guy alive (in the non-Vin Scully category). I didn't like Mike Patrick with Blackledge because...well, I just don't like Mike Patrick, period. He's liable to talk about Ray Lewis' competitiveness at any time and, of course, this happened. Basically, I think Blackledge can be good with a good partner, as he was with Verne Lundquist during his CBS run. After phoning it in with Patrick for a couple years, I'm hopeful that Nessler will bring out the best in him. I'm intrigued by this duo.

-- Bob Greise is going to ESPN midday games. No word on who his partner will be, but I'm guessing it's Mark Jones or Pam Ward. Greise is a very good analyst, and I enjoy his commentary (he and Keith Jackson together was something special). I was upset when ESPN shoehorned Paul Maguire in with him and Nessler, because they had such a good two-man booth going. Hopefully, he won't see this as a demotion and will continue to give good efforts week-in and week-out.

-- Craig James is out of ABC's studio and in the booth with Mike Patrick for afternoon ABC games. This team is going to be terrible. Just bad. But that's ok, because we're keeping these two away from other good commentators who'd have to carry them. Instead, they get to be awful together and we only have one bad team as opposed to two kinda bad teams. Trust me, this is a good thing. It's like we're quarantining them.

-- Jesse Palmer goes to the ABC studio show. This is awesome. I remember not knowing what to expect from Palmer once he went from The Bachelor to ESPN2's studio coverage, but man is he legit. He knows the game inside and out, gives a player's insight when necessary, and oozes cool on the set. Sometimes you really think he's going to say "dude" once he's done with his statement, and I don't think that's a bad thing. He's very concise, quite knowledgeable, and will be an immediate upgrade over the lameness that Craig James brought us every week.

Overall, I'm fine with the changes ESPN has made. It seems as if they knew something was wrong with some of their teams, so they set out to put together effective pairs all across the board. Announcers don't make or break the broadcast of a game, the action on the field does. However, a well-commentated game can easily add to the excitement and intrigue of a game. I expect ESPN's new lineup to perform very well this season, and I'm looking forward to it.

As long as my beloved Seminoles don't have any games commentated by Mike Patrick and Craig James.

~~ Lank