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ESPN
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Review from past weeks: 1 2
3 4
5
#1
Ohio State 28 #7 Penn State 9
Top-ranked
Ohio State crushed #7 Penn State but ABC announcing legend Keith
Jackson showed he's still a gamer.
It's a shame to think that this is Jackson's final season covering
college football. His smooth voice, easy manner and impressive knowledge
make the viewer as comfortable as a pig in slop (as Jackson
might write, if he were working for a fledgling Internet site).
In the second
quarter, Jackson was his usual self, wondering about Ohio State's
decision to try a 50-yard field goal. Dan Stultz's kick was subsequently
blocked, leading to a Penn State field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Analyst Bob Griese chimed in after the block, commentating that
Penn State coach Paterno said Friday night his team would need some
breaks in the kicking game. Griese also correctly noted in
the second quarter that the rainy conditions were hurting Ohio State
more than Penn State, citing the Buckeyes' big-play offense.
Ironically, the Bucks then took their first lead when the ball slipped
out of Penn State quarterback Kevin Thompson's hand, leaving a gift
touchdown for linebacker Jerry Rudzinski.
Griese, the former Miami Dolphins star, was solid but far from
spectacular. Obviously, he has a good grasp of the game but
his comments are as insightful as you'd expect. Maybe I'm just spoiled
from listening to Joe Morgan analyze baseball games all week.
Also in the first half, Jackson did a nice job of kicking
it to sideline reporter Lynn Swann after Ohio State receiver
Reggie Germany was penalized trying to throw a first-quarter block.
Swann said it's tough for a receiver to sustain a block throughout
a play.
A drenched Swann added that blocking is the one facet that all of
Ohio State's receivers need to work on. His point was illustrated
two plays later when wideout Dee Miller missed a block that
would have sprung Michael Wiley for a long gain on a screen pass.
During
the fourth quarter, Swann revealed that Paterno told him that Ohio
State linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer is as intense as Matt Millen and
as fast as Shane Conlan. Millen and Conlan were Penn State linebackers
who starred in the NFL.
Jackson and Griese relied more on their sideline reporter than any
other pair of announcers I've seen this year, college or pro, and
Swann rewarded them with a nice effort. He delivered insightful
comments quickly, which is exactly what viewers want from a reporter
on the field.
ABC's camera work was poor on Stultz's first missed field-goal
attempt late in the first quarter, failing to show the ball
in the air until it was already wide of the goal post. This was
a serious glitch.
The
telecast also failed on the replay of Joe Nastasi's third-quarter
catch to the Ohio State one-yard line. The replay angle, from
the back of the end zone, didn't show conclusively whether Nastasi
scored. A different camera shot would have showed whether the Nittany
Lions wideout got into the end zone.
Top tip: Before the game, sideline reporter Lynn Swann says
Penn State's defense must apply pressure to Ohio State QB Joe Germaine
to have a chance to win.
Sponsorship Award: Jackson introduced the "Chili's Starting
Lineups."
Best stat: Michael Wiley's 500 yards in the season's first
three games are a Buckeyes record.
Best graphic: ABC's illustration of the height difference
between each of Ohio State's four tall wideouts and the Penn State
players assigned to cover them.
Best picture: Shot of Ohio State players playing instruments
with the school's band before the game.
Thanks: I like how ABC shows game scores unobtrusively with
a bar across the bottom of the television screen. This contrasts
sharply with ABC's sister network, ESPN, which minimizes the screen
further with a vertical line, also.
Jacksonisms: 1) "You'll have to dig deep into your Thesaurus
to describe Boston and Miller," when listing Ohio State's offensive
starters. 2) "Sooner or later you've got to hunker down and run
north and south," referring to OSU's early tendency to run wide
against Penn State. 3) "The sparring period is done," after a scoreless
first quarter. 4) "Mama wanted a doctor, papa wanted a lawyer
and all they got was a legend," talking about Penn State coach
Joe Paterno.
Question: Why didn't Jackson and Griese question Ohio State's
move with 35 seconds left in the first half, when the Buckeyes handed
off to fullback Matt Keller from the Penn State 23 yard line?
Grade:
B, Jackson and Swann carried the broadcast (Randy)
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To see
George's picks/previews of this
week's games, visit Saturday Selections.
To post a comment on this story, go to the Speak
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To e-mail your opinion to Randy, click
here.
No.
12 Georgia 28 No. 6 LSU 27
Georgia
Bulldogs. LSU Tigers. The SEC. A night game at Tiger Stadium. Bulldogs
win 28-27 in a game as close and as thrilling as the score indicates.
It's
just a shame ESPN's telecast didn't match the intensity of the game.
Don't
get me wrong. It was O.K., but the game deserved better.
Play-by-play
announcer Ron Franklin missed some plays and, in general,
wasn't as sharp as he usually is. Color announcer Mike Gottfried
made some insightful points, especially early in the game, but
finished weakly. And sideline reporter Adrian Karstan seemed
to be forgotten at times and incorrect at others.
The
best example of how ESPN made it a decent, but not super, telecast
is in its coverage of Georgia stud cornerback/receiver Champ Bailey.
Bailey
is this year's version of Charles Woodson, last year's Heisman Trophy
winner from Michigan. He is Georgia's top cornerback and wide receiver,
he plays special teams and was arguably the biggest playmaker on
the field at all times (although one certainly could make cases
for Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter and LSU running back Kevin
Faulk).
Because
of the number of plays Bailey could possibly be involved in and
the heat of the Bayou (although ESPN said that Saturday night wasn't
as bad as it could have been), ESPN needed to keep track of Bailey
at all times. Viewers needed to know what plays he was in, what
percentage of plays was he in, and was he in more offensive or defensive
plays.
ESPN
gave only some of those numbers and not often enough.
With
14:44 left in the fourth quarter, ESPN showed that Bailey had been
in 78 of 104 total plays, leaving viewers to figure out that it
was 75% of the game. The graphic also said how many offensive, defensive
and special teams plays Bailey participated in but did not give
a percentage or the total number of plays in those categories. Just
knowing he was in two more offensive plays (34-32) at that point
does me no good, unless I know whether he was in a greater percentage
of offensive or defensive plays.
Viewers
like me probably wanted to know if Georgia felt it needed him in
more offensive or defensive plays, and ESPN didn't answer that by
just giving the number of plays. The all-sports network did not
put the numbers in their proper context.
Before
that fourth quarter graphic, ESPN showed at the beginnings of the
second and third quarters how many plays Bailey was in; however,
it did not show both times how many total plays there were, giving
viewers no perspective as to the percentage of the game Bailey spent
on the field.
Also, ESPN
did a poor job alerting viewers when Bailey was in or out of the
game. I'm not saying they should announce it before every play;
but unless he made a play on offense, viewers were rarely informed
as to whether he was in or out. Franklin and Gottfried were a little
better of keeping track of Bailey on defense.
Was
this a humongous error by ESPN? Absolutely not. Am I overanalyzing
this? Definitely. Could ESPN have done a better job? Yes, and that's
my point. ESPN's coverage of Bailey was adequate but didn't go
the extra step to great, which is what the game deserved.
And
I just found that symptomatic with the rest of the telecast.
Franklin
wasn't as sharp as he usually is. He missed a couple of fumbles/nonfumbles
as well as a couple of calls, such as personal foul call on a Georgia
wide receiver. He also never explained why LSU defensive lineman
Anthony McFarland is nicknamed "Booger," although he and
Gottfried used that nickname often.
As
I asked about the Bailey coverage, are these terrible boo-boos?
Absolutely not. But have we heard Franklin better? Definitely.
Gottfried
started out making made strong points, such as discussing how
the middle of the field would be open for LSU because Georgia was
playing two-deep coverage; saying that the quarterback is often
left uncovered on man-to-man pass coverage, and showing that Georgia
was actually hurting itself by punting away from Faulk.
But
as the game went on, Gottfried seemed to be adding less and less
value. He rarely analyzed coaching decisions or play-calling,
especially in the fourth quarter. Not only was it the fourth quarter,
but it was the fourth quarter of a one-point game, when every play
easily can be dissected.
Finally,
Karsten, who is one of the better sideline reporters in college
football, misfired a couple times. Before the game started,
he said Georgia may use Bailey as a decoy, which the Bulldogs maybe
did on some plays but Karsten and his partners never followed up
on his pregame statement. (Although on the game's first drive, Gottfried
said the Bulldogs "are not bringing [Bailey] in for window
dressing.")
Late
in the fourth quarter, Karsten said LSU coach Gerry DiNardo challenged
his defense this week through the media and that "his strategy
paid off." Huh? The game started with Georgia getting touchdowns
on its first three drives and ended with LSU's defense unable to
stop Georgia's offense from running out the last five minutes of
the fourth quarter.
Do you still think
DiNardo's "strategy paid off," Adrian?
Other highlights
and lowlights from the game:
Bumbling,
stumbling and fumbling: Twice on the first drive, Georgia fumbled
the football but got it back. Both times ESPN used the camera angle
from the opposite end zone for the replay. The angle offered little
value to viewers.
Interesting
quotes: 1. Gottfried on Bailey, "may be the best all-around
football player in the country." 2. Gottfried on Carter, "I
haven't seen many freshman perform like Quincy Carter has."
He lated added that Carter "may be the best young quarterback
in the country." 3. Gottfried on Georgia, "They have the
closest athletes to Florida that I have seen this year." 4.
Franklin called the game " the biggest win in [Georgia coach]
Jim Donnan's career."
Franklin
mint: Franklin doesn't have quite the twang ABC's Keith Jackson
does (who does?), but he does have a little in him. He said in the
first quarter, "We told you this was going to be a good one,
and I think the barn has already started burning."
Good shot:
LSU defense coordinator Lou Tepper setting up a classroom on the
sidelines to go over things with his defense.
Send him
the bill: LSU quarterback Herb Tyler hit the ESPN boom camera
while trying to throw the ball away.
Thanks for
ruining the ending: Larry Biel updated the wacky end of the
Nebraska-Oklahoma State game by showing the play that got Oklahoma
State to inside Nebraska's one-yard line. But instead of waiting
to show the game's next play, a game-winning goal-line stand by
Nebraska, Biel just said Oklahoma State didn't score and Nebraska
won. A couple plays later, ESPN and Biel showed the play, but it
was a lot less dramatic. If ESPN knew it was going to show the
play so soon, then Biel could have waited to give the result.
Grade:
C+, ESPN seemed a step short in a game that was a step above most
others. I wonder if ESPN's staff was stretched short because of
the baseball playoffs?
Back
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Last week: To see George's review of ESPN's NU-Wisconsin,
click here.
To
see George's picks/previews of this
week's games, visit Saturday Selections.
To post a comment on the Saturday Selections, go to the Speak
Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to George, click
here.
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Here's a brief overview of this week's CNN College
Football Preview, hosted by Bob Lorenz and Trev Alberts. The
duo focused primarily on the week's biggest game - Penn State's
visit to Ohio State.
What's your opinion?: Alberts mystified viewers by
saying that "Penn State doesn't have a chance" but later said
"this game will be a lot closer than people think." He eventually
predicted the Buckeyes will win by 10 points.
On location: In Columbus, reporter Paul Crane
said "the Nittany Lions want no part of a high-scoring shootout
in this one." Also at the Big Horseshoe, Tim Layden
said Penn State will have difficulty throwing against Ohio
State's star-studded secondary, predicting that four or five
of those in the Bucks defensive backfield will play in the
NFL.
Great point: Alberts made an outstanding point when
talking about Auburn QB Ben Leard, who was caught smiling
on camera after a pass was intercepted and returned for a
touchdown against LSU. Alberts commented that different players
mask their frustrations in different ways on the football
field, implying that a player shouldn't be persecuted if he
deals with adversity differently than someone else.
Feature: Nancy Newman's piece on Georgia's Champ Bailey
was pretty good, showing the many ways the Georgia defensive
back-wide receiver can influence a game. CNNSI's Johnny Phelps
also had a nice preview/feature about the Prairie View-Grambling
contest.
What's your opinion II?: Alberts
said "I absolutely hate the two-quarterback system." He then
added that, if he had to run such a system, he likes how Arizona
uses Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith "because they're exactly
the same." Trev, you can't have it both ways, baby.
Predictions: Alberts likes Arizona over Washington;
USC against Arizona State; Arkansas against Kentucky; and
Tennessee over Auburn.
Grade: B-, not bad
(Randy)
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"College
Gameday" ventured to Columbus, Ohio this week for Ohio
State-Penn State.
Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit focused on this
contest with the former Buckeyes QB doing a pretty good interview
with star linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer.
As you'd expect from an Ohio State grad, Herbstreit's piece
wasn't extremely probing but it was good to hear the story
of Katzenmoyer's academic problems from the linebacker's point
of view.
Speaking about the game, both Herbstreit and Corso said
the Ohio State crowd should affect Penn State's two-headed
QB - Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey. Herbstreit also
said he expects the Buckeyes to try to confuse Thompson and
Casey.
Reporting from Auburn, Ala., where he's covering Auburn-Tennessee,
reporter Tony Barnhart discussed the Bowl Championship
Series. He said the BCS is pulling for Ohio State "because
Kirk, if your boys win today, a lot of people think they're
gonna run the table."
Corso and Fowler also made interesting comments about the
BCS with Corso chastising teams with early-season losses
for saying they don't care about the BCS "we want to
win our conference." Fowler questioned The New York
Times poll, part of the computer rankings for the bowl
formula, noting that Penn State is 25th and UCLA is 21st with
TCU 13th.
The most interesting feature was about Prairie View
A&M's victory against Langston (Okla.) Saturday, breaking
the team's 80-game losing streak. Chris Fowler interviewed
head coach Greg Johnson and several players in the piece.
At one point, coach Johnson said "we're the team that broke
the streak and now life can go on." Life continues for the
Panthers this week against Doug Williams and Grambling.
Another well-done feature was Curry Kirkpatrick's story about
Texas running back Ricky Williams and his special relationship
with 1948 Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker, who died
Sunday. The piece described two men who were very similar,
despite their different outward appearances.
Gameday is always great to watch, largely due to the
barbs the opinionated Corso and Herbstreit trade back and
forth. Host Fowler, as usual, kept the show moving and provided
the occasional insightful comment.
Surprise,
surprise: Corso picked Ohio State to defeat Penn State.
Roll (over) Tide: Herbstreit said Florida "will bomb
Alabama" while Corso added that "Florida's defense and their
kicking game will outscore Alabama's offense."
Best
crowd reaction: In the background, Buckeyes fans consistently
booed Corso whenever he spoke. Later, the Ohio State faithful
erupted when Corso donned a Buckeyes hat.
Boring:
I enjoyed Gameday's look-in with broadcasters Keith Jackson
and Bob Griese but neither man provided much insight in their
brief appearance. (For
a review of their broadcast of Ohio State-Penn State, click
here)
Prediction: Corso likes LSU against Georgia. Both analysts
pick Arizona to upset Washington.
Best
stat: Auburn is one of only six I-A teams not to score
20 points in a game this season, Fowler said.
Best
picture: 1) Playful shoving match between Joe Paterno
look-alike and fan in Ohio State helmet 2) Steve Cyphers setting
up a Penn State fan's marriage proposal to a Buckeyes fan.
Top
tip: Fowler's mention that Ricky Williams will wear a
sticker for Walker's #37 on his helmet.
Grade:
B+, solid effort.(Randy)
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Last week:
To see George's review of ESPN's NU-Wisconsin,
click here.
To
see George's picks/previews
of this week's games, visit Saturday
Selections.
To post a comment on the Saturday Selections, go to the Speak
Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to George, click
here.
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