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"Thursday
Gamenight" is basically "College Gameday" Lite
- great insight, less features. The Thursday show includes
the same banter and analysis from the studio crew, host Chris
Fowler and analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, but without
the features.
And like
they do Saturday, Corso and Herbstreit aren't afraid to give
their picks on the big games of the weekend. (Not unlike two
web site partners that I know, i.e. Saturday
Selections and Crystal
Ball). They don't do as many games as they do Saturday,
but here are a few that they did pick:
Nebraska
at Texas A&M: Corse said, "Texas A&M will
give Nebraska all they can handle," but Nebraska's special
teams will pull out a close one. Meanwhile, Herbstreit said
Nebraska, especially its defense, will be fired up after last
week's close game and will win by three touchdowns. "I
just kinda feel sorry for A&M in this case," he said.
UCLA
at Arizona: Herbstreit said last week's dramatic win brought
Arizona closer as a team and that he sees them pulling an
upset in a high-scoring game. Corso said he thought Arizona
could win, but he likes Cade McNown and UCLA.
Kansas
St. at Colorado: Both said Kansas St. will "pound"
Colorado.
LSU
at Florida: Herbstreit predicted "a bust-out game"
for Florida.
South
Carolina at Kentucky: Corso said Kentucky gets more than
500 yards passing and 'wins big'' over South Carolina.
Although
Corso and Herbsteit didn't predict it, they did analyze the
Tennessee at Georgia game, which was the first game ESPN
featured. Corso used ESPN Pre-Play, a computer animation of
a play, to show how Georgia has been using its tight end in
the passing game. The best part is ESPN followed the computer
animation with video of the same play from Georgia's game
last week against LSU. It was very effective and worked well
together. ARE YOU LISTENING, CBS?
You can't
blame Corso or Herbstreit for not picking the Tennessee-Georgia
game yet because ESPN is doing College Gameday on Saturday
from Athens, Ga. Surely, they want to build drama for
their picks (although I saw in a newspaper Friday that Herbstreit
thinks Georgia will win).
[Note:
It is surprising, though, that ESPN would be doing the show
from Athens, Ga., because CBS is doing the game and not ABC
or ESPN. Remember earlier in the year, when the ESPN Gameday
crew didn't go to Tennessee for the Volunteer game against
Florida? At the time, rumors were flying that ESPN didn't
go there because Tennessee fans had put threats on Fowler
after comments that he made. ESPN denied the rumors, suggesting
why would it promote a game on CBS. But now this week, they
are doing just that.]
Overall,
give ESPN lots of credit for doing this type of show on Thursday
night. It would be very easy for them to put on a half-hour
of fluff pieces before its 8 p.m. game. But instead of
insulting the intelligence of college football fans, ESPN
gives them what they want, which is an early look at this
weekend's big games.
I actually
was surprised by how little ESPN focused on the Thursday night
game of Virginia Tech at Boston College. Fowler only mentioned
it as ESPN was going to a commercial. As a matter of fact,
Fowler mistakenly referred to the Virginia Tech Hokies as
"Aggies" at one point.
Good
Points: 1. Corso compared Arizona's dramatic touchdown
against Washington last week to Nebraska's miracle touchdown
last year against Missouri. 2. Herbstreit said Wisconsin's
front seven on defense "is as good as your going to find."
3. Fowler, after Barnhart said Georgia's coaches are afraid
the team may be flat after last week's win over LSU, "You
can't be flat against the team that has owned you."
Wrong
day: Herbstreit twice said "today" when analyzing
Saturday's Kansas St.-Colorado contest.
Grade:
A-, there were a couple of minor flubs but the show is great
for those who can't watch the pregame shows on Saturday.
Back
to top
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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