NFL studio analyst and former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Trent Dilfer will call his first college football game with ESPN on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Dilfer will provide analysis in the booth with play-by-play annoucner Dave Lamont at Ball State when the Cardinals host the Central Michigan Chippewas at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com.

Dilfer regularly does analysis for NFL Live, NFL PrimeTime and SportsCenter. He also contributes to Monday Night Countdown, ESPN Radio and ESPN’s annual Super Bowl week and NFL Draft coverage. He once called a college football game – while he was still in college.

“I’m very ambitious and love to challenge myself,” he said. “The only time I’ve done color commentary is for the Senior Bowl when I was still at Fresno State. I want to continue to challenge myself in this career and this is a great opportunity to get involved in the college game and stretch my TV talents.”

The play-calling lineups for ESPN’s Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday games have included Rece Davis, Lou Holtz and Mark May; the SEC Network’s Dave Neal and Andre Ware; Eric Collins and Ray Bentley; and Bob Wischusen and Brian Greise.

“It is totally different; night and day in terms of prep,” Dilfer said. “I consider myself an expert in the NFL world. I live and breathe it. The college game, I’m a fan but I haven’t invested the same amount of time and energy into learning and knowing the game inside and out like the NFL.

“The game itself and the global themes are the same, but I’ve had to spend lots of hours doing film prep, understanding the story lines, team and game history, coaching staff and players. It’s been a really great challenge – and I have some anxiety, but it’s stretching your capacity to learn that excites me.”

George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN, Inc., and ABC Sports, recalls the early days of the company when one of the core pieces of programming was Australian Rules Football.  With the rules of the sport foreign to many viewers, ESPN encouraged fans to send a postcard and, in return, receive a copy of the rulebook.  The gesture was met with unexpected response — 50,000 postcards arrived in Bristol.  

Bodenheimer would know.  He was working in the mailroom at the time.

Today, as ESPN nears its 30^th anniversary (Sept. 7), Bodenheimer recounted that story to a room full of journalists attending a two-day media workshop at ESPN.  

To Bodenheimer, passionate sports fans are a core reason for ESPN’s success.  Another is the “culture, energy, and passion of our people,” Bodenheimer said.  He also credited the “work ethic, passion for sports, and can-do attitude” employees exude each day.

During an afternoon in which 43 ESPN employees were honored for joining the company before Sept. 7, 1980, Bodenheimer said those colleagues bought into the “little engine that could” mentality.

It was also an appropriate time to announce ESPN’s success in reaching a companywide goal.  Rather than throw a celebration for ESPN’s 30^th birthday, the company decided to collectively devote 30,000 hours to community service by September 7.  Today, that goal was met.

 Among other topics discussed: 

• the 30^th anniversary SportsCenter to be hosted by Chris Berman, Bob Ley and John Saunders;
• ESPN’s “30 for 30″ films initiative;
• the company’s “best screen available” approach to providing content any way fans desire;
• localized sports content, such as ESPNChicago.com and the recently announced plan to launch in three new markets (Dallas, Los Angeles and New York);
• the growth of ESPN360.com, which now reaches two-thirds of all broadband homes;
• ESPN launching in the UK, and the acquisition of English Premier League rights;
• 100 hours of US Open coverage beginning next week and ESPN’s championship strategy for tennis and golf;
• the 15-year rights agreement with the SEC;
• Monday Night Football’s 40^th year;
• World Cup 2010 as a major priority for the company;
• the unique, recently established media and ad lab in Austin, Texas;
• and the upcoming rebranding of Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando to ESPN Wide World of Sports.

“We are not resting on our laurels,” Bodenheimer said.  ”ESPN is as busy as it’s ever been and that’s exactly how ESPN’s employees want it.”