As the ACC Network turns 6 years old this month, the channel will debut new football programming and a familiar face as an analyst.

Florida State faces will make frequent appearances. Former FSU and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher joins the ACC Network as an analyst. EJ Manuel will be on the ACC Network less as his Saturday role shifts to ESPN, but he will help launch a weekly show with Roddy Jones. And Mark Richt will be in studio as an analyst on gamedays.

Viewers who have watched the ACC Network in the weeks since ACC Kickoff in late July have seen some of the changes already. Fisher appeared as part of the on-campus tour stop at SMU. Jones has handled one-on-one interviews with coaches and players. ESPN.com writers David Hale and Andrea Adelson have also hosted shows.

The Manuel-Jones show, which will be called the “ACC Network Football Podcast,” will air on Mondays and Wednesdays and will launch later this month. While slated to air on the ACC Network in a one-hour slot, the show will also be uploaded to podcast feeds.

“Part of what we're doing with that show, specifically with EJ and Roddy, is we're expanding the distribution of it so it's more accessible,” ACC Network VP production Alex Farmartino told the Osceola. “We want the ACC network brand to branch out beyond that as much as we can. So Roddy and EJ is kind of the first step into that.”

Hale and Adelson will also host Inside ACCess, now a one-hour show on Thursdays. Previously, the show was 30 minutes.

“In going to an hour, the hope is to go deeper on big topics in a format that feels a little more like a podcast than a TV show,” Hale wrote on his Substack. “I think it should be fun.”

FSU football featured Tuesday

FSU will be featured as part of the on-campus tour on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Host Taylor Tannebaum, an FSU alumna who has worked for the ACC Network since 2022, will be joined by Manuel, Jones and Adelson.

The show will include an interview with coach Mike Norvell and players. It will also replay in subsequent days.

Shifting focus of ACCPM

Farmartino emphasized longtime studio host Mark Packer has retired, with no plans to return to the ACC Network in football and basketball season. Packer had hosted a morning show with Wes Durham, Packer & Durham, and later an afternoon show, ACCPM, with Tannebaum.

Viewers have noticed the absence of a show over the summer. Farmartino says the plan is to see ACCPM adapt during the league’s 2025-26 athletics season.

“We would like ACCPM to become a little bit more of a pregame show going into our weeknight live events,” Farmartino said.

ACC Huddle shows Friday, Saturday

Fisher will join Tannebaum, Eric Mac Lain and Eddie Royal for on-site “ACC Huddle” shows on Friday nights and Saturday from 10 a.m. – noon. The show often visited whichever primetime broadcast the ACC Network handled on Saturdays but will now focus on the best conference game.

“Our goal is to showcase the best atmospheres that the league has,” Farmartino said.

Football replays

If you want to replay FSU’s game, or that of another ACC opponent, you have options. Beyond setting the DVR, a condensed game appears on the ACC Digital Network’s YouTube channel (not every play but many of them and usually around 22 minutes) or watch a replay that’s been edited to fill a window on Sunday on the ACC Network.

Will there be a one-hour condensed broadcast that includes every play and airs on Sundays? Or during the week?

“To be able to show a Monday and a Tuesday every ACC game that was played that weekend, that's something that we've discussed,” FSU athletics director Michael Alford said in July.

But, for now, that’s not the plan among executives at ESPN and the ACC Network.

“If it were (ACC commissioner) Jim Phillips sitting here, I know that he prefers the one-hour, cut-down format,” said Senior Director, Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN Jeramy Michiaels. “From a straight analytics standpoint there, the data has told us that the longer replay, the traditional two-and-a-half hour, three-hour replay, actually rates better than the one-hour cut.”

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