|
Reviews from past weeks: 1 2
3 4
5 6
7
Miami
34 West
Virginia 31
By
George Stahl
CBS's
college football second team of Craig Bolerjack, Ed Cunningham and
John Dockery is like many other backups in college football. At
times, they look like starters; at other times, you wonder what
they are doing.
The
threesome displayed the good, the bad and the ugly Saturday during
Miami's exciting 34-31 win over West Virginia.
THE
GOOD: Sideline reporter John Dockery may be the best
at his position in college football. I have no idea why CBS
doesn't have him on its A team with Sean McDonough and Terry Donahue.
As I have said,
Mike Mayrock - the sideline reporter with McDonough and Donahue
- is brutal.
Dockery
showed often why he is among the best.
- In the first
few minutes of action, he gave two injury updates in separate
reports.
- Dockery described
later in the first quarter how Miami coach Butch Davis reprimanded
his defense for not being lively enough and attacking the ball.
- After West
Virginia kicked a 29-yard field goal with six seconds left in
the first half instead of going for the end zone one last time,
Dockery's first question to West Virginia coach Don Nehlen walking
off the field was if he considered going for six. While to many
that is the obvious first question, too often sideline reporters
just ask the coach to comment on the half instead of asking about
anything specific.
- In the second
half, Dockery said that despite it being a beautiful late October
day in West Virginia, the Miami defense had the heat on the bench.
Dockery
never wasted a sideline report to tell a story about something not
related directly to the game. Sideline reporters lately have
become sideline storytellers, talking about events not directly
affecting the game. Dockery never did that. Every Dockery
report was just that - a report from the field, not a researched
story.
Sadly,
however, Dockery did a disappearing act in the second half, appearing
only once in the third quarter. Where did you go, John?
THE
BAD: While it may be too harsh to call play-by-play announcer
Bolerjack and analyst Cunningham "bad," they certainly
weren't good Saturday.
Bolerjack,
who sounds a lot like former CBS college football announcer Gary
Bender, seemed out of it. He occasionally misnamed some players,
such as announcing Hurricane running back Edgerrin James as Santana
Moss on a touchdown, and his play-by-play was disjointed.
Bolerjack
also didn't give much background or tell many stories about the
players or coaches involved in the game, choosing instead to
focus only on the game, While that generally is preferable, stories
about the participants often add color to the broadcast and give
the viewers a sense of connection with those involved. Thinking
back over the game, I cannot remember any interesting story that
Bolerjack may have told.
Cunningham,
a former All-Pac 10 offensive lineman/captain of the Washington
Huskies national champion team, shows some potential but isn't
there yet. The former All-American is very good, as you might
guess, at analyzing the battle in the trenches. Cunninghman noted
many times the work of the "big uglies," as ABC's Keith
Jackson might say, which is an area many viewers miss.
For
example, he noted early that West Virginia's offensive lineman was
dominating the line of scrimmage, allowing running back Amos Zereoue
to get "to the second level [the linebackers] of the defense
before he has to make a move."
Cunningham
also was very good at evaluating the play of the officials,
criticizing and complimenting when appropriate.
However,
too often, Cunningham redescribes the replay, without adding
much insight. Plus, he isn't strong in analyzing play-calling
or criticizing coaches.
Also,
Cunningham is quite prone to cliches. From the beginning
of the game, when he said it would be a "major understatement"
to say this wasn't a big game, to the end, when he had to "give
credit where credit is due" on Miami's game-winning touchdown,
Cunningham littered his analysis with classic football announcer
cliches.
THE
UGLY: While
I think the 29-year-old Cunningham has some potential, he screwed
up royally on a Miami drive in the third quarter. After a second
down play, Cunningham said Miami coach Butch Davis' only choice
was to go for it on fourth down. When Cunningham finished, Bolerjack
said in passing that it was third down and inches. Ignoring the
hint, Cunningham went on to say - as Miami's offense stayed on the
field - that he wasn't surprised Miami was going for it.
Meanwhile,
the graphic on the screen said third and inches. Cunningham's confusion
was contagious because after he was done, Bolerjack began talking
about the fourth-down play. Right before the snap, though, Bolerjack
quickly interjected that it was third and inches, utterly confusing
all viewers.
Miami
made the first down, which made the previous down irrelevant, and
CBS never cleared up the confusion, probably figuring that it was
unnecessary.
Production
problems: 1) In the first half, I had lots of problems hearing
Bolerjack and Cunningham, despite the fact that the crowd was fairly
calm. It seemed the volume on their microphones were too low.
2) CBS missed a play while showing a West Virginia receiver
David Saunders on the sidelines.
Good
shot: CBS showed that a West Virginia running back fumbled the
ball on a play that officials ruled down.
Good
graphic: 1) Of Miami's 26 touchdowns this year, 18 were on drives
of under two minutes.
2) Right at the beginning of the fourth quarter, CBS showed
that Miami has won 118 of the last 119 games that it has led going
into the fourth quarter.
3) The graphics on the IBM Playbook was extremely sharp.
Grade:
C. The game deserved better coverage.
Back
to the 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
Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to George, click
here.
|
 
Notes and reviews from this week's premiere college football
pregame shows - CNN's "College Football Preview,"
with host Bob Lorenz and analyst Trev Alberts and ESPN's "College
Gameday," with host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso
and Kirk Herbstreit.
Top story: Both shows did an excellent job of covering
Terry Bowden's decision to resign as head coach at Auburn.
ESPN spent the first five minutes or so analyzing the
move. The Gameday crew was fortunate it was in Atlanta for
the Florida State-Georgia Tech game tonight, allowing for
a wonderful interview between Chris Fowler and Bobby Bowden,
Terry's father, taped Friday night.
In the interview, the elder Bowden reacted to the resignation
with the emotions of a father rather than of a fellow coach.
Bowden said about his son, "He didn't have a chance [at
Auburn]," adding that he had heard his son wonder over
the summer if it was all worth it. In blunt terms, the father
said his son's choice was either leave now or get fired at
the end of the year.
ESPN reporter Tony Barnhart said Bowden never won the hearts
and minds of Auburn fans and alumni while alienating
power brokers. Barnhart added that the early favorite to be
the permanent Auburn coach is ex-Auburn Heisman Trophy winner
Pat Sullivan.
CNN was also lucky in it's coverage of the Terry Bowden
resignation - the network's offices are in Atlanta. This
enabled Paul Crane to conduct a fine, probing interview with
Bobby Bowden, with the FSU coach looking visibly shaken
by his son's departure.
CNN reporter Tim Layden blamed the school's administration
and Trev Alberts made the boldest statement on either pregame
show when he said "This is a classic case of a university
and an athletic director not having the courage to stand for
your head coach and caving in at the pressure of the almighty
dollar from a few alumni."
While
Herbstreit suggested money had something to do with it on
ESPN, Alberts' statement was the most forceful.
Bobby Bowden also told ESPN and CNN that he'd cancel next
year's game with Auburn if he could.
[Note:
Next year's game is scheduled to kick off ESPN's Thursday
night schedule on Sept. 2.]
Nebraska-Missouri, 1997: ESPN used its weekly Gameday
Flashback to relive last year's thrilling Nebraska-Missouri
game. The piece was fine but short. If ESPN cut its
coverage of last year's game for the fresh Bowden story, it
made the right decision.
Predictions: Florida State at
Georgia Tech - Herbstreit, Corso and Alberts all take
Florida State.
Missouri at Nebraska - Herbstreit and Corso like Nebraska,
but Alberts, a Huskers alum, takes the upstart Tigers.
UCLA at California - Alberts, Corso and Herbstreit
like the Bruins. Corso compared UCLA quarterback Cade McNown
to Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre.
Georgia at Kentucky - Corso, Herbstreit and Alberts
pick Georgia.
Miami, Fla., at West Virginia - Corso and Herbstreit
take West Virginia. Alberts didn't pick.
Tennessee at Alabama - Alberts likes the Vols.
Bold statement: CNN's Layden, in Manhattan, Kan., said
Kansas State QB Michael Bishop "Might be the best big-play
quarterback in the game."
Top tips: 1) ESPN's Fowler reported on a breaking news
story from The Associated Press that said federal investigators
are probing two Northwestern games from 1994 for possible
point-shaving. Kudos to ESPN for fitting this news into its
tightly structured show. 2) ESPN and CNN revealed that
plane troubles resulted in nine Florida State players, including
star receiver Peter Warrick, taking the bus to Atlanta for
the Seminoles game with Georgia Tech.
Stats: ESPN - 1)
LSU running back Kevin Faulk has never scored a touchdown
against a team with a winning record. 2) In Pac-10
games, home teams and visitors have won nine games each. 3)
Florida State has only allowed 40 points in one game once
in 12 years. Corso said the Seminole defense has allowed only
28 points total in the second half this year.
CNN - 1) Missouri's next five opponents are
a combined 30-4. 2) Missouri's Corby Jones and Devin
West combine for 46% and 40% of the team's offense, respectively.
Best features: 1) An excellent piece by CNN's
Nancy Newman about Missouri's Corby Jones and Devin West,
focusing on the death of Corby's father Curtis, who was a
Tigers coach. 2) ESPN's Steve Cyphers' profile of Brian
Shay, star running back at Division II Emporia State. His
coach said the third-leading rusher in NCAA history may become
the "Wayne Chrebet of running backs" in the NFL. 3)
Curry Kirkpatrick's look at last week's Temple upset over
Virginia Tech.
Glitches: 1) The opening of CNN's show was garbled
with Lorenz's voice-over about Florida State-Georgia Tech
being cut off. 2) In a graphic for the Wisconsin at
Iowa game, ESPN spelled Iowa's stadium as "Kinninck" instead
of "Kinnick."
Best line: "'Gameday' is never an excuse for a lose."
- ESPN's Fowler after a lukewarm Barnhart feature on Georgia
Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton, who talked about the excitement
caused by "Gameday" visiting.
Grades
ESPN - A (An excellent job covering the Terry Bowden
story)
CNN - B+ (Layden scored with insight about Bowden's
resignation)
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
Out page.
To e-mail your opinion to George, click
here.
To e-mail your opinion to Randy, click
here.
|
|
