Wes Durham is getting a promotion this weekend, courtesy of the NFL.
With Dave Pasch heading to London to call Colts-Commanders for NFL Network, Durham was tapped to appear on ESPN’s Notre Dame-North Carolina midday show on Saturday, entering a booth alongside Pasch’s regular college football partners, analyst Dusty Dvoracek and sideline reporter Taylor McGregor.
Durham spent most of his career calling ACC football in one form or another, first on Georgia Tech radio and later on Raycom’s syndicated broadcasts, while also serving as the radio voice for the Atlanta Falcons. He has been with ACC Network since its launch in 2019 and now leads its primetime football coverage alongside analyst Max Browne and reporter Madison Fitzpatrick.
And a week after calling Virginia Tech-Boston College for the Conference Network, it will trade that platform for ESPN’s main channel and a showdown between a blue blood program and one of the ACC’s most storied brands.
It’s also a sort of return to basics. Durham’s father, Woody Durham, was the radio voice of North Carolina football and basketball for four decades, from 1971 to 2011, and Wes spoke about his childhood in the ACC and his father’s journey into the conference broadcast booths. When ACC Network celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2024, Durham told Awful Announcing that he often thought about the voices he listened to growing up, including his father’s calls regarding Carolina games.
Pasch, meanwhile, will make his NFL Network debut Sunday morning, as Colts-Commanders kicks off at 9:30 a.m. ET from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The longtime voice of college football ESPN signed an exclusive deal with the network in June, ending a 24-season run as the Cardinals’ radio play-by-play announcer, and now runs one of two NFL Network booths under ESPN’s control. He will be joined by Kurt Warner and Jason Kelce, who is making his debut as a game analyst after two seasons on ESPN. Monday Night Countdownand sideline reporter Molly McGrath.
Kelce’s debut in the booth comes days after he apologized to Bears fans for repeatedly calling the Eagles “we” during the ESPN broadcast. Monday Night Footballl halftime show, which could make for an interesting week ahead, as the crew remains in London to call Eagles-Jaguars on October 11.
Colts-Commanders is the first of four NFL Network games on the trio’s schedule, which also includes the league’s first-ever game in Paris, Saints-Steelers, on October 25, and one of the network’s two Saturday games on December 26. Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick will handle NFL Network’s three other games, including Texans-Jaguars in London on October 18. in Europe, and with this weekend’s trip to London already removing him from ESPN’s Saturday roster, those trips could open up similar opportunities for Durham in the weeks to come.
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