ESPN, please don’t replace Film Room with Witten and Booger

One of the best things about the National Championship broadcast is reportedly out.

For a few years now, ESPN has supplemented its broadcasts of college football’s biggest games with alternate feeds, including Coaches Film Room, in which a collection of current and former college coaches break down Playoff games in real time. It might not do massive numbers in iso (this is probably important), but it’s by far the most enlightening and often the most entertaining way to watch a football game, especially one between the country’s two best college teams.

Well:

It gets more perilous, because the Monday Night crew is considered a dud by just about every NFL fan I know. Jason Witten was not prepared to get a Tony Romo-type callup right to one of the most prominent booths, and the use of Booger McFarland in a sideline cart is more of a distracting gimmick than anything actually useful to the viewer.

The Booger Scooter is reportedly on the way out, so we can at least hope this obstacle won’t be on the grounds for anyone who pays a few hundred dollars (yeah, tickets to the title game aren’t that expensive, because the Playoff decided to put its biggest game in Santa Clara, California):

Although college fans will always miss play-by-play man Joe Tessitore, I really can’t imagine anyone would want to tune in to hear his NFL associates discuss Alabama-Clemson, especially since these aren’t exactly the most popular commentators among that group.

I’ve asked ESPN for comment and will update. It’s probably not easy to assemble a crew of coaches in Santa Clara a week after doing the same with two different groups and during the national coaches’ convention, which is in San Antonio. Just have Paul Johnson do it solo, if need be: