In the wake of Todd Blackledge taking off from ESPN to be NBC’s lead game analyst on primetime Big Ten football in the fall, there will be a QB battle for ESPN’s No. 2 college football spot.

It will pit Robert Griffin III vs. Greg McElroy. One was a Heisman Trophy winner, the other a national champion.

Let’s break it down:

1. The No. 2 game analyst spot, alongside Sean McDonough, is prestigious. Blackledge currently calls a College Football Playoff semifinal on TV and the title game on radio. McDonough and Blackledge also receive the second-best game each week after Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.

2. It also is akin to a vice president position, putting an analyst on the cusp of the most powerful spot in the sport that is held by Herbstreit. Herbstreit just signed a new ESPN deal and is not going anywhere. However, Herbstreit just expanded full-time into the NFL this season on Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football.” Herbstreit, who was solid, not spectacular, alongside Al Michaels, already has spoken about how he may not be able to do both forever.

3. McElroy, the Alabama grad, has been with ESPN for nearly a decade after a short NFL career that included being drafted by the Jets. He is currently teamed with Joe Tessitore. RGIII, who won the Heisman in 2011 with Baylor, has had a quick rise at ESPN in just his second season. After his rookie year working in the studio and with Mark Jones on games, ESPN had RGIII replace Randy Moss on “Monday Night Countdown.”

4. Dan Orlovsky could be in the mix, but it is unlikely. Orlovsky is slated to call seven NFL games on Monday Night Football’s second team next season after doing a handful this year, which wouldn’t totally eliminate him from moving up in college, where he already works with Bob Wischusen.

5. However, sources say it is RGIII vs. McElroy, and it would be very surprising if it were not one of those two for the role. The selection will have additional ramifications beginning in 2024, when ESPN takes over all the top SEC games, including CBS’ current package.

Quick Clicks

Rookie studio analyst Sean Payton and Fox Sports did a nice job addressing his coaching prospects. Instead of being elusive, Payton just answered questions on “Fox NFL Kickoff” and “Fox NFL Sunday.” … In the early window, with Patriots-Bills, Dolphins-Jets and Steelers-Browns all potentially determining which team would make the playoffs, CBS put the scores of the other games up, which made it easy one-stop shopping to figure out what was happening. Fox did similarly, which was good to see after Fox failed to do so during World Cup group-stage games when there was a question of which countries would advance. … CBS’ lead play-by-player Jim Nantz uses the term “Oh my goodness” as too much of a crutch — or he’s trying to make it his version of the late Dick Enberg’s “Oh my!” … On Steelers-Browns, CBS’ Greg Gumbel had a very uneven performance, missing or being late on several calls. … ESPN turned its “E” mic flag upside down to look like a “3” to honor Damar Hamlin during its broadcast of the Jaguars-Titans game on Saturday. It was the idea of Steve Ackels, ESPN’s VP of production, just before the game. … As two-time Olympic gold medalist skier Mikaela Shiffrin matched Lindsey Vonn’s all-time women’s World Cup wins record on Sunday, NBC streamed the race on its subscription site, Ski and Snowboard Live. On Tuesday, it will be re-broadcast on Peacock.

Time to Schein

If Michael Kay does leave afternoons on ESPN New York, the loyalty factor dictates that Don La Greca, an ESPN NY original, and, to a lesser extent, Peter Rosenberg should be considered as Kay’s successor as host. However, ultimately, the idea is to hire the best person for the job.

Here’s an intriguing name to me: SiriusXM/CBS Sports’ Adam Schein.

Schein is a perfect fit for New York afternoon drive because he knows how to do a show, is relatively young (45) and grew up studying the FAN. When you hear him, there are shades of Chris Russo, Mike Francesa and Steve Somers, among others. It is like a smorgasbord of all that makes New York sports radio work. And he fits the ESPN brand as he plays it clean and focuses on sports.

In our original column on Kay’s potential departure, we mentioned Russo, which would be a lot of fun and ignite a fierce battle with his old friends at WFAN. If you’re ESPN, you have to look into it, especially if the plan is just to try to offer Kay so much money that he stays. You could turn around and try to do that with Russo.

Russo would be an exciting choice, and ESPN already has a relationship with him with “First Take.”

At 63 and not slowing down, Russo could work, but his contract with SiriusXM does not expire until 2024. Besides being younger, Schein is on an expiring deal at SiriusXM (his CBS contract goes into 2024).

Peacock bags a Black-bird

More than ever with social media, first impressions are hard to shake. That is why it is as important to nail a coverage plan for a new broadcast package from the very first game. Is it fair? No, but it is the way it is.

We always like to wait before fully delivering a verdict on a crew, good or bad, but NBC’s choice of establishing Big Ten credibility by swiping Blackledge from ESPN and then going with an up-and-comer who has already shown real chops in Noah Eagle is an inspired selection. As I wrote the other day, it is old school and new school.

It is important to start with credibility with the audience right away. Amazon Prime Video did that on Thursday Night Football. Though Michaels and Herbstreit did not come close to reaching Herbstreit’s stated goal of being the best broadcast in sports, it was solid. Though Michaels did further brand Amazon’s TNF as a second-rate package with some snark and Herbstreit wasn’t as authoritative on the NFL as he is on college, they were pretty good. Anyone in the business who has had to put a booth together from scratch — or even on the fly — knows that is not an easy task, especially at the level the NFL demands.

Industry snipers love to point out that NBC provided much of Amazon’s production people, starting with executive producer Fred Gaudelli. Whatever. It was Amazon’s product, and it got off to a strong start, from its studio to its games. You can have opinions one way or the other as to how good it was, but it was definitely credible.

From what we have heard from Blackledge for decades and from Eagle for a few years, we would expect similar results from NBC’s new crew.

End of an era

Taylor Twellman leaving ESPN feels like the closing of the book on live soccer at the network, at least for now. The network still has a pretty good portfolio, mainly on ESPN+, featuring La Liga, Bundesliga and the FA Cup, but it doesn’t produce those games and it is out of broadcasting the major events, such as the World Cup, European Championships, Champions League and, domestically, MLS. It still has a good show in “ESPNFC,” but this is a niche product for international diehards.

John Skipper wasn’t particularly good at running ESPN, but he was important to the growth of soccer and how it’s covered, valuing the sport and finding people to raise the bar on coverage. It was personal for him, and it showed in the coverage, in a positive way.

ESPN has gone on spending sprees for major rights, and had to make decisions about some important relationships it had to give up. The biggest was the Big Ten, but soccer is up there. When the World Cup bidding is up again for the 2030 event, I’m sure ESPN will be in there. It might even get it, so there could be another chapter of ESPN being a dominant soccer network again.

The people who produced ESPN’s soccer coverage over the years should be proud of what they accomplished because they helped raise the bar of what is expected by an American audience.

Curb your enthusiasm

Sightings: Greg Hughes, NBC Sports’ executive vice president of communications, ran into Larry David at Santa Monica’s Capo. David told Hughes he couldn’t believe they sat Hughes in the “ugly section.” Classic.

This allows me to again share my experience with David. At the height of the Francesa-Kay sports radio war a few years ago, David was at an event with Kay. He told Kay, and this is a second-hand quote, “What’s the deal with this guy Marchand? Is his job just to cover you guys.”

I was told David was fascinated by the whole radio ratings thing.