College Football Week #9: Fox, CBS, ABC, ESPN and others have tons of games, topped by ND-Michigan
Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt get Fox' #3 vs. #13 Wisconsin; Randy Cross, high on CBS' NFL depth chart in the 90s, hanging in doing college

College football comes and goes so quickly, fans want to savor every weekend. Here we go, Week #9. We’re in the heart of the season with lots still to settle on the gridiron.
Halby’s mouthfuls:
- Brandon Gaudin who did a nice job on Fox’ NFL telecast last Sunday calling Minnesota-Detroit is back to college this weekend. He has Indiana at Nebraska on the Big Ten Network which is tied at the hip with Fox Sports. When Gaudin started on radio, he had a tendency to shout. He’s lowered his good voice an octave or two and is an easy and knowledgeable listen.
- Dave Flemming, a three-sport broadcaster, baseball, football and basketball, has USC’s visit to Colorado. If you ever have a chance, one of the great college football venues is Folsum Field in Boulder, home of the Buffs. Not for the shouting and drinking. The mountains serve as a picturesque backdrop and the view is breathtaking. I’ve come to learn that Dave Flemming’s brother Will does some Red Sox radio. Veteran Joe Castiglione, a New England institution, tells me Will is very good.
- Drew Goodman is doing Nevada at Wyoming. He also does Colorado Rockies baseball on the tube. Wyoming is the alma-mater of the legendary Curt Gowdy. He played basketball there and told me on a couple occasions that basketball was his best sport as a broadcaster. That assessment coming from a man who did many World Series and Super Bowls. He also did NCAA Final Fours for NBC in the 60s and 70s.
- Sean McDonough and Todd Blackledge are on ABC at 3:30 Saturday with Penn State at Michigan State. They’re an excellent duo. Did you know that McDonough did the last two World Series before the infamous one that was cancelled 25 years ago, in 1994. Sean did it for CBS in both ’92 and ’93.
- Randy Cross was once on the top few rungs of CBS’ depth chart, doing NFL color. He was paired with luminaries like Don Criqui, Verne Lundquist, Jim Nantz and Dick Enberg. He does radio sports talk now in Atlanta and hanging in calling college football for the cable side, CBS Sports Network. This week he joins John Sadak for Tulane at Navy.
- Steve Levy headed out to Oregon with Brian Griese for #11 Ducks and Washington State. Levy will be busy this spring as the lead voice for ESPN’s XFL package.
- Interesting tidbit. Bobby Rosinski is on the North Texas at Charlotte game for ESPN+. He’s a chip off the old block. His dad was a longtime NFL announcer for the Carolina Panthers and for many years, Westwood One and ESPN Radio. Bill was solid.
Jake Baskin has a feature on Dan Hellie. It’s lodged below the schedule. Good stuff!
Thursday, Oct. 24
No. 16 SMU at Houston | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN Adam Amin, Matt Hasselbeck
Friday, Oct. 25
Southern California at Colorado | 9 p.m. | ESPN2 Dave Flemming, Louis Riddick
Saturday, October 26
No. 13 Wisconsin at No. 3 Ohio State | 12 p.m. | FOX Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
Bryant at Robert Morris |12 p.m. | ESPN3 Paul Dottino, Jeff Feagles
Mississippi State at Texas A&M | 12 p.m. | SEC Network Dave Neal, D.J. Shockley
No. 5 Oklahoma at Kansas State | 12 p.m. | ABC Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky
Miami at Pitt | 12 p.m. | ESPN Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek
Illinois at Purdue | 12 p.m. | Big Ten Network Lisa Byington, J Leman
San Jose State at Army | 12 p.m. | CBSSN Ben Holden, Ross Tucker
Bowling Green at Western Michigan | 12 p.m. | ESPN3 Chris Vosters, Marcus Ray
Liberty at Rutgers | 12 p.m. | Big Ten Network Mike Monaco, Stanley Jackson
No. 20 Iowa at Northwestern | 12 p.m. | ESPN2 Roy Philpott, Kelly Stouffer
No. 21 Appalachian State at South Alabama | 12 p.m. | ESPNU Kevin Brown, Andre Ware
Southern Miss at Rice | 1 p.m. | ESPN+ David Saltzman, ND Kalu
Ohio at Ball State | 2 p.m. | ESPN+ Jim Barbar, John Gregory
Nevada at Wyoming | 2p.m. | ATTSN Drew Goodman, Sed Bonner
Western Kentucky at Marshall | 2:30 p.m. | Facebook Chris Hassel, A.J. Hawk
New Mexico State at Georgia Southern | 3 p.m. | ESPN3 Greg Talbott, Danny Waugh
No. 6 Penn State at Michigan State | 3:30 p.m. | ABC Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge
No. 9 Auburn at No. 2 LSU | 3:30 p.m. | CBS Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
Syracuse at Florida State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN2 Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht
Maryland at No. 17 Minnesota | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN Jason Benetti, Rod Gilmor
Oklahoma State at No. 23 Iowa State | 3:30 p.m. | FS1 Cory Provus, Petros Papadakis
Tulane at Navy | 3:30 p.m. | CBSSN John Sadak, Randy Cross
Eastern Michigan at Toledo | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Michael Reghi, Dustin Fox
Arizona at Stanford | 3:30 p.m. | Pac-12 Networks Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron
Indiana at Nebraska | 3:30 p.m. | Big Ten Network Brandon Gaudin, James Laurinaitis
Miami (OH) at Kent State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Robert Lee, Tyoka Jackson
Akron at Northern Illinois | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN3 Shawn Kenney, Forrest Conoly
Central Michigan at Buffalo | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Doug Sherman, Jerod Cherry
No. 15 Texas at TCU | 3:30 p.m. | FOX Joe Davis, Brock Huard
Virginia at Louisville | 3:30 p.m. | ACC Network Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich,
North Texas at Charlotte | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Billy Rosinski, Reginald Walker
UConn at UMass | 3:30 p.m. | FloSports Josh Maurer, Andy Gresh
Florida International at Middle Tennessee | 3:30 p.m. | NFL Network Dave Ryan, Ben Leber,
Florida Atlantic at Old Dominion | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Ted Alexander, Andy Masha
South Florida at East Carolina | 3:45 p.m. | ESPNU Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia
South Carolina at Tennessee | 4 p.m. | SEC Network Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
Duke at North Carolina | 4 p.m. | ACC Network Extra Tom Werme, James Bates
Hawai’i at New Mexico | 4 p.m. | Spectrum Sports Robert Kekaula, Rich Miano
Arkansas at No. 1 Alabama | 7 p.m. | ESPN Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy,
UCF at Temple | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 Anish Shroff, Ahmad Brooks
Texas Tech at Kansas | 7 p.m. | FS1 Dan Hellie, Evan Moore
Texas State at Arkansas State | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ Roger Twibell, Pete Cordelli
Memphis at Tulsa | 7 p.m. | CBSSN Rich Waltz, Aaron Murray
Troy at Georgia State | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ Matt Stewart, Wayne Gandy
No. 8 Notre Dame at No. 19 Michigan | 7:30 p.m. | ABC Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Boston College at No. 4 Clemson | 7:30 p.m. | ACC Network Dave O’Brien, Tim Hasselbeck
Colorado State at Fresno State | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU Clay Matvick, Ryan Leaf
No. 24 Arizona State at UCLA | 7:30 p.m. | Pac-12 Networks Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth,
Missouri at Kentucky | 7:30 p.m. | SEC Network Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers
Louisiana Tech at UTEP | 8 p.m. | ESPN3 Andy Morgan, Trevor Vittatoe
California at No. 12 Utah | 10 p.m. | FS1 Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman
Utah State at Air Force | 10:15 p.m. | ESPN2 Mike Couzens, Kirk Morrison
Washington State at No. 11 Oregon | 10:30 p.m. | ESPN Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay
San Diego State at UNLV | 10:30 p.m. | CBSSN Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor
Jake Baskin’s feature on Dan Hellie
Dan Hallie has the call on Fox Sports 1’s coverage of Texas Tech and Kansas this Saturday night alongside former Stanford two-sport athlete Evan Moore. Though not a regular play-by-play announcer on Fox’s college football coverage, Hellie has emerged as one of the faces of football media, in a variety of different capacities.
A Maryland native who was part of the same Tennessee graduating class as Peyton Manning, Hellie, 44, bounced around small towns across the country before landing a job as the sports director of the ABC affiliate in Orlando in 2003. In 2006, he moved back to his home market of Washington, D.C. to take a job with the NBC affiliate there, later becoming sports director. As sports director, he anchored NBC 4’s Redskins coverage and he also got a chance to cover the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Hellie joined NFL Network in 2013 and still serves as the host of its nightly show, NFL Total Access. As a play-by-play broadcaster, Hellie calls Tennessee Titans’ preseason games, was one of the lead announcers for the short-lived Alliance of American Football, and has called NFL games for Fox each of the past four seasons.