ESPN Tests RedZone-Style Broadcast For College Football With Pat McAfee But There's A Catch

In what probably took waaaaaaaay to long to try, ESPN and Pat McAfee will test out an NFL RedZone-style broadcast during the Saturday night slate of college football games.

And yes, I know -- y'all weirdly don't like McAfee. We've heard you loud and clear. It's a dumb take, but it's yours and I respect it.

That being said, this is the smartest thing ESPN has done maybe ever? Granted, they've made some pretty dumb decisions over the years, so the bar isn't high. But still -- NFL RedZone is iconic and it was only a matter of time to test it out at the college level.

Rece Davis -- you don't hate him too, right? -- will host the broadcast from McAfee's studio Saturday night.

"Basically, every game that's happening Saturday evening, we will be cutting in and out of whenever things heat up," McAfee said during Wednesday's show.

Pat McAfee, ESPN bring RedZone to college football

Aptly named the College Football Frenzy, this is the second attempt at a RedZone broadcast in as many weeks for ESPN. The first -- last Tuesday's NHL Frenzy -- was wildly successful, which should surprise no one.

NFL Red Zone has been a staple across this great country for over a decade now. It's maybe the single-greatest invention in the history man. I think we'd all collectively take a bullet for Scott Hanson, and I personally would be proud to do so.

It was so revolutionary when it first came out that the fellas in marketing decided to make TWO different broadcasts of it -- one from the NFL itself with Hanson and another on DirectTV with Andrew Siciliano.

That last one was axed after last season when the NFL Sunday Ticket went to YouTube TV, but the Hanson one still remains.

And now, we're getting a little taste of what it would be like in college football. Again, why it took this long for anyone to try it is beyond me, but better late than never.

Now, here's the caveat -- and it's an obvious one

The biggest Saturday night game is LSU-'Bama and takes place over on CBS. According to Awful Announcing, this ESPN whiparound show will only show ... Disney-owned games.

Those include: Iowa State vs. No. 22 Kansas, No. 24 USC vs. No. 5 Washington, Rice vs. SMU, Mississippi State vs. Kentucky, North Carolina State vs. Miami and UTEP vs. Western Kentucky.

It'll be interesting to see how McAfee and Davis navigate the fact that the biggest game of the night is going on during their broadcast but they can't show it live. Perhaps they'll get highlights and just show them, much like they do during regular studio shows?

In any event, McAfee and Davis will be over on ESPN 2 starting at 7:30 Saturday night.

Can't wait to see what it looks/feels like. Hard to imagine it's not awesome, but I'm sure the McAfee haters will find a reason to dunk on it.