I have leftover press releases from the week and I should post them before the games start so let’s do these quickly.
First NBC has its first primetime Notre Dame game tonight in San Antonio.
IN THE SPIRIT OF ROCKNE, NOTRE DAME HOSTS WASHINGTON STATE IN SAN ANTONIO, TX THIS SATURDAY IN FIRST-EVER PRIMETIME GAME ON NBC
“I have not seen a better all around receiver this year than Tate.” - Haden
NEW YORK – October 28, 2009 – In the spirit of legendary Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne, the #23 (BCS) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-2) will host the Washington State Cougars (1-6) in a primetime off-site home game in San Antonio, Texas this Saturday on NBC Sports. Rockne pioneered traveling the team around the country to establish intersectional rivalries. This marks the first time in the 19-year history of the Notre Dame-NBC relationship that NBC will broadcast a game in primetime.
Coverage begins at 7:30 pm ET from the Alamodome with Tom Hammond handling play-by-play duties, Pat Haden providing analysis and Alex Flanagan reporting from the sidelines.
HADEN ON THE MATCHUP: "The Irish take their show on the road this week to San Antonio to meet the Cougars of Washington State. Knute Rockne would be proud! The Irish have BCS bowl game hopes and their offense, led by Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, remains very dynamic. I have not seen a better all around receiver this year than Tate. He is awesome, both before the catch getting open, and even more so after the catch where he is so difficult to tackle. He is fun to watch but difficult to defend."
NOTRE DAME'S OFF-SITE LEGACY: Rockne, the legendary Irish coach who accumulated an .881 winning percentage (105-12-5) during a 13-year tenure at Notre Dame (1918-30), was the first football coach to take his team all over the country and initiate intersectional rivalries. Saturday's game is the first in a series of Notre Dame off-site home games scheduled over the next seven seasons. Army is scheduled for next year on November 20 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y.
NOTRE DAME PRESIDENT FATHER JOHN I. JENKINS ON OFF-SITE GAMES: "We have scheduled teams who want to play us at offsite venues because it's as great for their program as for ours. The off-site games provide an opportunity to have a primetime game broadcast by NBC."
NOTRE DAME-WASHINGTON STATE MATCHUP: Notre Dame and Washington State have met just once before on September 6, 2003 when Notre Dame won 29-26 in overtime at home. Notre Dame is coming off a 20-16 win against Boston College at South Bend. Irish WR Golden Tate caught 11 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. The win snapped a six-game losing streak to the Eagles and moved Notre Dame to No. 23 in the latest BCS standings. The Irish have played in six consecutive games decided by seven points or less, the most in the FBS. Washington State lost, 49-17, to Cal last weekend dropping its record to 1-6.
NOTRE DAME RATINGS UP 24 PERCENT: Through the first five broadcasts of the season Notre Dame viewership on NBC Sports has jumped 24 percent compared to the first five broadcasts from last year (4.2 million vs. 3.4 million).
The Oct. 17 USC-Notre Dame game on NBC Sports drew 6.5 million viewers, the most for a Notre Dame game on NBC since September 9, 2006 when the Penn St.-Notre Dame game drew 6.9 million viewers.
To FSN and quotage from SEC Gridiron Live.
SEC Gridiron LIVE – Week Nine
They Said It:
Randy Cross on whether Alabama and Florida are beatable“I think both of these teams are imminently beatable. Both of these teams can be beaten. I think one of them is going to lose before that SEC Championship game. Neither one of them is improving. We thought the SEC was absolutely unbeatable for quite a few weeks. Right now, the two best teams aren’t getting any better.”
David Pollack on Dan Mullen’s Mississippi State offense
“Great offense, but Dan, you are not a charity. You are not a nonprofit. Offensive guys, take care of that rock. They got to take care of the ball. Ten fumbles. Eleven interceptions. If they are taking care of the ball, they are winning a heck of a lot more games. You’re not a charity. Make people earn it against you. Don’t give it to them.”
Randy Cross on Kentucky offensive threat Randall Cobb
“This might sound like a skipping CD, but they have Randall Cobb, and Randall Cobb is going to gain yards. He’s going to score points like he did last week, and if you’re going to stay on the field because you’ve got a bad run defense, it’s great to have a guy like Randall Cobb that can get you yards, get you points.”
SEC Gridiron LIVE names the Top 5 “Scariest Dudes in the SEC”
5. Eric Norwood (South Carolina)
4. Aaron Hernandez (Florida)
3. Rahim Alem (LSU)
2. Rolando McClain (Alabama)
1. Brandon Spikes (Florida)
Panel Picks:
David Pollack on the Auburn / Ole Miss game
“Auburn is struggling. I wasn’t drinking the Ole Miss Kool Aid, but I’m drinking it a lot more than I’m drinking this Auburn Kool Aid, so I’ll take Ole Miss.”
Charles Davis on the South Carolina / Tennessee game
“I think Monte Kiffin’s defense finds a way to get it done and gets their first big win.”
EMU/Arkansas: Charles/Arkansas, Randy/Arkansas, David/Arkansas
Tulane/LSU: Charles/LSU, Randy/LSU, David/LSU
Vanderbilt/Georgia Tech: Charles/Ga. Tech, Randy/Ga. Tech, David/Ga. Tech
Miss. St./Kentucky: Charles/Miss. St., Randy/Kentucky, David/Kentucky
South Carolina/Tennessee: Charles/Tennessee, Randy/South Carolina, David/Tennessee
Auburn/Ole Miss: Charles/Ole Miss, Randy/Ole Miss, David/Ole Miss
Florida/Georgia: Charles/Florida, Randy/Florida, David/Florida
Social Media Sound Off:
In response to the Thumb It In question – “Of the 5 SEC Teams Ranked in the BCS, who’s done the best coaching job”:
· Randy Cameron – As much as I like Darth Visor, it’s hard to argue with the Saban/Bama show. This year it’s Saban so far. Still a tough schedule ahead, so opinion is currently in a holding pattern.
gerritburke@SECGridironLIVE – I think the scariest people in the SEC are the ones hiring the officials.
Mike Hallman – Brandon Spikes will be a healthy boogie man in Jacksonville Saturday. Snatching all the Bulldog’s candy from them. Happy Halloween & GO GATORS!!!
SEC Gridiron LIVE presented by O’Charley’s airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET throughout the college football season to more than 24 million cable and satellite households on the FSN regional networks throughout the SEC territory – FOX Sports South, Sun Sports, FOX Sports Houston and FOX Sports Southwest. SEC Gridiron LIVE is hosted by Charles Davis with analyst Randy Cross and David Pollack and social media reporter Cassidy Hubbarth.
The annual Florida-Georgia is CBS’ SEC Game of the Week today.
“THE SEC ON CBS”
NO. 1 FLORIDA VS. GEORGIA ON SATURDAY, OCT. 31
AUDIBLES with CBS Sports’ Lead College Football Analyst Gary Danielson
CBS Sports’ national coverage of the SEC “Game of the Week” continues on Saturday, Oct. 31 (3:30 PM, ET), with *No. 1-ranked Florida taking on SEC Eastern Division foe Georgia.
The CBS Television Network’s lead college football announce team of Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson call the action live from Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Tracy Wolfson serves as lead reporter. Craig Silver, the Network’s coordinating producer of college football, produces and Steve Milton directs. CBS Sports’ broadcast of Florida-Georgia also will be broadcast in high definition.COLLEGE FOOTBALL TODAY, the Network’s pre-game, halftime and post-game studio show, starts the day on CBS Sports (3:00 PM, ET) with host Tim Brando, along with analysts Spencer Tillman and Tony Barnhart. COLLEGE FOOTBALL TODAY will keep viewers updated on all the games throughout the afternoon with scores and highlights. Vin DeVito produces and Linda Malino directs. Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
CBS College Sports Network’s SEC TAILGATE show is live from Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in prior to the game. This week’s show is broadcast from the grass area between P lots off of North Georgia Street. Former University of Florida quarterback Danny Weurffel and former University of Georgia kicker and College Football Hall of Fame member Kevin Butler join CBS College Sports Network as guest analysts.
Veteran SEC announcer Dave Baker hosts SEC TAILGATE, and is joined by CBSSports.com’s Lauren Shehadi and CBSSports.com senior college football writer Dennis Dodd. Sam Ryan anchors coverage from New York with former Tennessee Head Coach Phillip Fulmer and Brian Jones serving as analysts. The Florida-Georgia game will be streamed live and free of charge on CBSSports.com. Each week CBS Sports’ “SEC Game of the Week” is available exclusively on CBSSports.com and also can be accessed through a link on the websites of all CBS affiliates.
After CBS Sports’ live SEC game coverage each Saturday throughout the season, CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK takes over with SEC POSTGAME SHOW (7:00-PM, ET), providing a recap of all the news, scores and highlights from around the SEC. Ryan serves as host along with Jones and Fulmer, Stephan Van Engen produces.
*AP Poll as of 10/26/09
AUDIBLES with CBS Sports’ Lead College Football Analyst Gary Danielson
(On Heisman Race): It’s still Tim Tebow’s Heisman to lose. He is in the driver’s seat. Of course he has to do something, but he is going to get the visibility to do it. Anybody who votes for the Heisman before Championship Saturday is over, with Tebow, Mark Ingram and Colt McCoyth, their votes really shouldn’t count. You have to see what they are going to do in the Championship games before you vote this year. potentially playing in their championship on December 5
(On Florida): Teams have forced Florida away from their first option and what they like to do, running the ball inside with those really fast backs and then throwing the short passes to (Aaron) Hernandez and (Riley) Cooper. People are taking the first option away and forcing Florida to do something else. So far they have been making enough mistakes to keep people in the game. But, if Florida doesn’t turn the ball over inside the 20-yard line twice versus Tennessee, three times versus Mississippi State and four times against Arkansas, they would have blown all three of those teams out. So Florida is not quite as good as last year, but not as bad as what everybody thinks.
(On Tim Tebow): Tim is not playing like he played two years ago. First of all they don’t have the necessity for him to do that because they have a much better defense than in his Heisman Trophy year. They are managing him a little more, making sure that he is available to do different things. He also doesn’t have the fire power that turns a 10-yard pass into an 80-yard gain, because Louis Murphy and Percy Harvin aren’t there to turn simple plays into touchdowns. They have to earn every yard.
(On Georgia): If you were to summarize Georgia in one word you might use the word transition. They are really hurt from who they lost off last year’s team. In this conference, if you don’t have the playmakers with experience going against all the great defensives players you are flat-out going to struggle. And that is Georgia. With Knowshon Moreno, Mohamed MassaquoiMatthew Stafford all drafted, Georgia is just searching for experience at key spots and coming up empty. It is really affecting their team. and
And here’s CBS College Sports’ slate of games today.
CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK’S FOOTBALL ACTION FEATURES TEMPLE AT NAVY AND NEW MEXICO AT SAN DIEGO STATE
CBS College Sports Network continues its slate of college football action with two games this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 31 (3:30 PM, ET) CBS College Sports Network features Temple at Navy from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD. Play-by-play announcer Dave Ryan teams with analyst Randy Cross to call the action. The Network then broadcasts a Mountain West Conference match-up as New Mexico takes on San Diego State in primetime (7:30 PM, ET). Tom Hart and analyst Aaron Taylor announce.
INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LIVE (3:00 – 3:30 pm, ET) brings fans the latest scores and highlights. Immediately following the New Mexico – SDSU game, INSIDE COLLEGE FOOTBALL EXTRA (11:00 – 11:30 PM, ET) wraps up the day’s action with news and analysis. Adam Zucker hosts, along with analysts Brian Jones and Phillip Fulmer.
There you go. I hope to give you NFL previews from the networks and links, but it might be already turning into a crazy day.
