As the No. 6 seed in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, Penn State will No. 11 SMU in the first round of the CFP at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, December 21 with kickoff at Noon ET. After an 11-2 finish to the regular season and a shootout loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Nittany Lions will begin their quest for the program’s first national championship since 1986.
In his 11th season, this is the first time that James Franklin has led Penn State to the CFP, and ironically, it was his first finish inside the top four of the CFP rankings. However, the top four seeds in the bracket were awarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions, which all received first-round byes.
This CFP first round is a new experience for the sport and will have an interesting new broadcast partner with the first two games of Saturday’s three-game slate being featured on TNT.
Who are the announcers for SMU vs. Penn State on TNT?
While the games will be broadcast on TNT, the crew will be familiar to college football fans. Play-by-play announcer Mark Jones will lead his ESPN crew featuring color commentator Roddy Jones and sideline reporter Quint Kessenich.
TNT will also have live pregame coverage in Happy Valley with College Football Playoff Kickoff presented by AT&T. The show begins at 11:00 a.m. ET and will be led by Adam Lefkoe with former Georgia defensive back Champ Bailey, former Auburn linebacker Takeo Spikes, and former New York Giant Victor Cruz, who played collegiately at UMass.
The game will be simulcast on TNT, TruTV, and TBS with streaming on MAX with the Bleacher Report Sports add-on.