From 1975 until 1982, he worked for WJLA-TV as a sports reporter and weekend anchor. During this period, Patrick also did play-by-play for Maryland Terrapins football and basketball broadcasts as well as pre-season games for the Washington Redskins when WJLA had the TV rights to broadcast those games.
For three seasons, from 1986 to 1988, he called college football on ESPN with color commentators Pat McInally (1986), Lee Corso (1987) and Kiley (1988). In 1989 he called three college games, two with commentators Gene Washington and one with Ben Bennett, while in 1990 he would call three more college games, two with Davis and on September 29 he would call his first game with commentator Mike Gottfried, calling the South Carolina vs Georgia Tech game. From 1991 through 1997, Patrick and Gottfried would call Thursday Night college football games on ESPN. In 2006, Patrick became the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN on College Football Primetime, along with Todd Blackledge and field reporter Holly Rowe.
During the 2007 season, Patrick famously asked broadcast partner Todd Blackledge "what is Britney [Spears] doing with her life?" during overtime of an Alabama-Georgia game.[4]
In July 2009, ESPN announced that Patrick would begin calling Saturday afternoon ESPN/ABC college football for the 2009 college football season, which he did through 2017.
