ESPN to “Megacast” Indiana’s opener against Ohio State

When Indiana opens the 2017 football season against Ohio State under the lights on August 31, ESPN will give the contest a dose of national championship treatment.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reports that ESPN will “megacast” the game, giving fans seven presentations to choose from.

There will be a Coaches Film Room on ESPNews, which, aside from being of note as the ESPN debut for Les Miles, will feature a number of average players and washed up coaches.

Speaking of which! Dan Dakich will be part of the broadcast on ESPNU, which the network has dubbed its “homers’ broadcast,” though it’s not clear whether Dakich will be a homer for his alma mater or whether viewers will be not-so-surprised by his slobbering love affair with Urban Meyer.

ESPN will also offer an All-22 brodcast, a skycam, a nerd presentation centered on analytics, and a split-screen viewing option.

This news follows College GameDay’s announcement that they’ll open the season in Bloomington. GameDay’s senior coordinating producer Lee Fitting told Deitsch that the matchup offered the network a perfect opportunity to kickoff the season in a big way. “Ohio State comes into the season highly touted once again and will be immediately tested with a conference road matchup. The magnitude of the game, combined with limited viewing competition, availability of our other linear networks, and staffers and commentators that are not tied up with other events or game responsibilities resulted in the perfect scenario,” Fitting said.

ESPN’s coverage from Bloomington will begin at 4:00 p.m. ET and College GameDay will start at 6:00 p.m. ET. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET.