ESPN’s College Football Live loves it some Notre Dame (EDIT: Millen signs with ESPN)

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis looks over some notes at halftime of the Blue-Gold football game Saturday, April 18, 2009 in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

All red-blooded college football fans watch ESPN’s College Football Live. And I know that most of us are ecstatic that it’s on year round now.

I’m sure all Iowa fans enjoyed Shaun King’s analysis of the Big Ten yesterday. The former Tulane and NFL QB picked Ohio State but called the Iowa Hawkeyes his darkhorse for the Big Ten title. He’s really high on QB Rick Stanzi. He knew who Jeff Brinson was. His analysis was one of the better researched offered by the garden variety analysts ESPN trots through the show. Joe Schad was good yesterday, too. I like what he brings to the show.

This all said, a large percentage of you are going to hate next week’s lineup. When I say hate, I mean HATE.

Get ready for a weeklong conversation about . . . Notre Dame.

Fonzi, get the leathers on and line up that shark.

This from ESPN:

College Football Live: Weeklong Discussion on Notre Dame

Next week’s College Football Live — a weekday afternoon studio show dedicated to college football aired generally at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN — will feature daily analysis, news, interviews and a special weeklong focus on Notre Dame from May 11-15, including interviews with head coach Charlie Weis and quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

 John Saunders (Monday and Tuesday), Kevin Negandhi (Wednesday) and Jonathan Coachman (Thursday and Friday) will host next week’s programs. Analyst Ed Cunningham will work Monday through Wednesday, while Rod Gilmore will provide analysis on Thursday and Friday. Joe Schad will serve as the reporter each day.

 The schedule of Notre Dame-specific topics and guests for May 11-15:

 Monday, May 11

• A discussion on what Notre Dame needs to do to return to prominence and a BCS bowl; George Smith’s conversation with Weis and guard Eric Olsen as guest

 Tuesday, May 12

• A breakdown of the offense, an in-depth look at the depth chart and players to watch this season; with assistant coach Corwin Brown as guest

 Wednesday, May 13

• A breakdown of the defense, an in-depth look at the depth chart and players to watch this season; with safety Kyle McCarthy as guest

 Thursday, May 14

• A discussion on impact players who must step up to get Notre Dame back to a BCS bowl; with linebacker Brian Smith as guest

 Friday, May 15

• What to expect this season, and a game-by-game breakdown of the schedule with a season-record prediction; with Jimmy Clausen as guest

_____________

I don’t have any strong feelings for ND. As a high schooler, one of my teammates had a brother who played defensive back for the Fighting Irish. Some of you might remember Ted Burgmeier. My dad and I followed them for a bit, but we were a Green Bay Packers household through and through (got any Favre stuff for the big bonfire?).

So, there you go. You can choose to turn off your DVRs for the week. Or you can gut it out. Personally, I’m tuning in. I haven’t followed the Irish enough to have a decent opinion. This is study time for me. For you, is it a time to tune out, dry heave or hum the fight song?

______________

He can’t GM a football team, but Matt Millen was pretty good in the studio. He could end up doing an Iowa game next fall for ESPN.

If you ask Lions fans, he’s back where he belongs:

Matt Millen Joins ESPN as Football Analyst

Will Contribute Analysis to NFL Studio Shows and Call College Football Games

 Former NFL player, executive and broadcaster Matt Millen is joining ESPN as an NFL and college football analyst. As part of his multi-faceted role, Millen will serve as a college football game analyst during both the regular season and bowls, and he will contribute to ESPN’s NFL studio coverage throughout the year, appearing on Monday Night Countdown, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and other programs. Millen will also offer analysis on ESPN Radio and other platforms. He is scheduled to start in August.

 As part of Millen’s NFL studio responsibilities, he will travel to the site of each week’s Monday Night Football game, where he will appear alongside Stuart Scott and analyst Steve Young on Monday Night Countdown and the pre- and post-game editions of SportsCenter. Millen’s involvement in college football will be even more significant in the years ahead when the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) moves to ESPN as part of its new agreement, beginning in 2010. His specific commentator assignment for the 2009 college season will be determined this summer.

 “Matt will play a major role in our NFL and college football coverage and fans will enjoy hearing the strong, candid opinions which have made him one of the absolute best analysts in the business,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production. “His addition gives us our deepest roster of NFL experts ever with the four-time Super Bowl champion joining an ESPN lineup that already features Chris Berman and standouts at every position, and with Kirk Herbstreit, Todd Blackledge and Millen you couldn’t ask for a better group of college football analysts.”

Millen added: “I am very excited about this opportunity and I look forward to working with ESPN and the great group of analysts, commentators and production staff who will be my new teammates.”

Millen was a member of four Super Bowl championship teams during his 12-year NFL career as a linebacker with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1980-88), San Francisco 49ers (1989-90) and Washington Redskins (1991). A Pro Bowl selection in 1988, Millen finished his career with 11 sacks, nine interceptions and eight fumble recoveries. A second-round pick (No. 43 overall) in the 1980 NFL Draft by the Raiders, Millen was an All-American defensive tackle in college at Penn State.

Following his playing career, Millen entered the broadcast ranks in 1992 working on NFL games for CBS and later Fox Sports, where he earned much acclaim for his analyst work on Fox’s No. 2 broadcast team. Millen also provided analysis for Monday Night Football games on the Westwood One radio network.

In 2001, Millen left broadcasting to assume the role of team president for the Detroit Lions, where he worked for eight years. Millen returned to television earlier this year as a guest analyst on NBC’s pre-game coverage of Super Bowl XLIII and during the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.