ArmchairQB.com's 1999 College Football Awards

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Grading The Voices
McDonough Named Best Play-By-Play, Danielson Top Analyst
By George Stahl
NEW YORK (AQB)--For the second straight year, ArmchairQB.com uses this space to praise a departing play-by-play man. Last year, we honored Keith Jackson, who had decided to vacate his ABC post. This year, it's Sean McDonough, whom CBS decided to vacate.
McDonough is ArmchairQB.com's choice as college football's best play-by-play announcer this season after turning in one of his best performances with rookie game analyst Todd Blackledge. McDonough always provided a smooth call to games but, in recent years, developed the confidence to insert his own honest observations, such as urging Army to keep head coach Bob Sutton.

Nonetheless, Army dumped Sutton and CBS unceremoniously dropped McDonough. Reportedly, the network got rid of the 37-year-old to make room for the soon-arriving Dick Enberg. The NBC legend, who wasn't quite the same on Notre Dame games, presumably will fill the No. 2 spot on CBS' NFL team and work with Dan Dierdorf. CBS then will replace McDonough with venerable Verne Lundquist.

McDonough, though, deserved much, much better. He stuck with CBS during the network's lean years, when it lost football, baseball and Olympic contracts, and was developing into a recognizable face and voice through his work on college football, college basketball and golf.

Another college football voice who got screwed this year was Brad Nessler, who was in line to replace Jackson as ABC's top announcer until network execs decided to split that title between him and Brent Musberger. ABC gave Musberger this year's national championship contest, while Nessler will call next year's title game at the Orange Bowl.

But ABC not only missed an opportunity to lock in the 43-year-old Nessler as its top college football voice for the next 20 years, it also took away his longtime partner, Gary Danielson, and replaced him with Jackson's old mate, Bob Griese.

Despite all that, Nessler flourished. He has one of the most commanding voices in college football and, surpringly, meshed well with Griese after the midseason change. Griese's performance also improved but not enough to overcome Danielson, who has established himself as the best game analyst in college football.

And now, drumroll please, ArmchairQB.com presents its second annual college football announcing awards.

ArmchairQB.com's college football rankings:

BEST PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER
1. CBS' Sean McDonough - will miss his candidness and honesty.
2. ABC's Brad Nessler - has great voice and call; has cut down on tiny miscues.
3. ESPN's Ron Franklin - has the perfect sound for college football.
4. ESPN's Dave Barnett - focuses on the game, not on any trademark sayings.
5. ABC's Brent Musberger - "let me tell you" (as Brent often says) Musberger is the most frustrating of announcers. He can thrill you with an exciting call and, moments later, frustrate you with one of his absurd comments.

Perennial No. 1: ABC's Jackson. He can describe paint drying, and we'll listen.

Most Underrated: ESPN2's Rich Waltz. Had a terrific year as he consistently covered up the mistakes of rookies Gino Torretta and Don McPherson. Waltz really rose in stature with his excellent call of Minnesota's dramatic, last-second upset of then-unbeaten Penn State.

Overall: With McDonough gone, Disney (which owns ABC and ESPN) now has a headlock on all the top college football play-by-play announcers - and recent moves at CBS and NBC doesn't suggest that will change next season. Who knows how well Lundquist will do with Blackledge on CBS, and the network's No. 2 guy, Craig Bolerjack, isn't very good at all. At NBC, it's still unknown who the network will get to replace Enberg on the Notre Dame games.

Meanwhile, Fox Sports Net has a solid group of announcers, led by Steve Physioc; however, none is ready to break into the top five.

BEST GAME ANALYST
1. ABC's Danielson - becoming one of the best analysts in football, period.
2. ESPN's Bill Curry - Southern voice disguises a great football mind.
3. ABC's Bob Griese - seemed re-energized with Nessler.
4. ESPN's Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit - brings studio show to the booth.
5. ESPN's Mike Gottfried - better now that he's only doing one game a week.

Best newcomers: Corso and Herbstreit. They were helped by some exciting Thurday night games, but we were pleasantly surprised at how smoothly Corso and Herbstreit slid into the broadcast booth. Corso provided humor and a coach's perspective to the telecasts, while Herbstreit showed that he was able to make concise, insightful comments in the short time between plays - something that CBS' Blackledge struggled with all year. Herbstreit is the brightest rising star in college football.

Most Underrated: ESPN2's Todd Christenson. Sometimes speaks above his audience but always provides an interesting perspective.

Overall: Another Disney-dominated area, although Blackledge shows plenty of promise. CBS' No. 1 analyst has to become more opinionated, especially now that McDonough, who was often more critical than Blackledge, is gone. NBC's Pat Haden is solid, as is Fox Sports Net's Trevor Matich and Tom Ramsey, but none of them is top-five material.

BEST SIDELINE REPORTER
1a. ABC's Jack Arute - seems to be the quickest in reporting injuries.
1b. ABC's Lynn Swann - more of a second analyst than just a sideline reporter.
3. ESPN's Jerry Punch - brings a NASCAR attitude to college football reporting.
4. ESPN's Adrian Karsten - solid reporter who often adds humor to the telecast.
5. CBS' Michele Tafoya - goodbye, Michele, we hardly knew thee.

Overall: Arute and Swann can teach Monday Night Football's Lesley Visser a few things about sideline reporting. Like McDonough, Tafoya was let go by CBS.

BEST STUDIO HOST
1. ESPN's Chris Fowler - smoother than good Scotch; best football studio host.
2. ABC's John Saunders - always seems in control on busy ABC set.
3. CBS' Tim Brando - is more football-focused, eliminating the lame jokes.
4. Fox Sports Net's Kevin Frazier - works well with Kellen Winslow.
5. CNN's Bob Lorenz - good but only does a half-hour pregame show.

Overall: Fowler, clearly the class of this field, is the best studio host in football. He has the best mix of humor, well-researched facts, reverence for college football's rich history and cynicism of the current climate. Brian Kenny (ESPN) and Rece Davis (ESPN2) also did a fine job with updates and highlights throughout the day. Saunders has carved out a nice spot for him at ABC, and Frazier is a hidden star at Fox Sports Net.

BEST STUDIO ANALYST
1. ESPN's Corso - gets the edge for being on the Hokie bandwagon all year.
2. ESPN's Herbstreit - the most prepared studio analyst.
3. Fox Sports Net's Winslow - makes a good team with host Frazier.
4. CNN's Trev Alberts - very good but only does a half-hour show.
5. ABC's Terry Bowden - had his ups and downs in his rookie year.

Most Underrated: ESPN2's John Mackovic. Mackovic gets lost behind ESPN pals Corso and Herbstreit but does an excellent job of bringing a coach's perspective to the studio.

Needs work: CBS' Spencer Tillman. Almost too smooth in presenting his analysis. Tillman also needs to bring a fresher perspective to his opinion, instead of relying on cliches or obvious analysis.

Overall: Corso and Herbstreit are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.

BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL SHOW
ESPN's College Gameday, as we have said, is the best pregame show in football. CNN's college football show is good but is only half as long as ESPN's and doesn't have the time to dig into issues and analysis like ESPN.

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