Samantha Steele | America's White Boy

The fans at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Louisville Cardinals game got some free basketball…a lot of it.

The first 39 minutes, as ESPN’s Eamon Brennan describes, was mediocre. He blames low possession rates in college basketball and teams being “overcoached.” Well, all that went out with the bathwater in the last minute of regulation. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant got the green light to shoot threes and he drained them. He scored 12 points in the final 44 seconds of regulation.

Michigan State transfer Garrick Sherman was the overtime start for the Irish. He was supposed to be a big contributor for the Irish this season, but has seen his minutes dwindle down to nothing. He didn’t even register a single regulation minute, but finished the game with 17 points and six rebounds in Notre Dame’s 103-100 win that needed a FIFTH overtime to find a winner.

ESPN’s College Gameday will have a new face this fall. Samantha Steele-Ponder will be called up to the Majors and take the spot vacated by Erin Andrews, who recently left to join Fox Sports.

Steele has been working at the Longhorn Network and worked sideline duty at various college football and basketball games for ESPN.

With the departure of Michelle Beadle and Andrews, she will most likely be the new female face of ESPN along with Charissa Thompson and Sara Walsh.

We fill you in on Steele’s background and attach a mini photo gallery to help you get to know her a little better.

Steele-Ponder, 26, is a graduate of Liberty University and her father is a football coach. She worked for Fox Sports Net and Fox College Sports before landing a job at the Longhorn Network.

She will be hosting the pre-Gameday show on ESPNU at 9am, helping at the College Gameday broadcast on ESPN, and take over sideline reporting duties during the Thursday and Saturday night football games. She will be thrust into the spotlight and college boys will surely be giving her the same rude catcalls they yelled at Andrews for years.

She’s the perfect addition to the broadcasts. She’s professional, extremely likable, and cute as a button.

Here is an ESPN podcast that introduces Steele as the new addition to College Gameday.

If you wish to follow her on Twitter, she can be found @SamSteelePonder. We wish Miss Steele the best of luck this fall.

Steele married Christian Ponder during the 2012 NFL season. He is a very lucky guy!

Here are a few pictures of Samantha Ponder on the job.