College Week #8: Fox, ESPN, ABC, CBS and conference networks air 80 games; All talent listed; Ratings up
Fowler and Herbie get #16 Michigan at #7 Penn State in prime time on ABC

Schedule below notes
Halby’s notes and mouthfuls:
Another full slate, plus! I count at least 80 games available in some form of live video presentation.
Sam Wyche’s name is on the list of analysts this week. He coached the Bengals and Bucs. Sam was later an NFL analyst for both CBS and NBC. For the past ten years or so, he’s been doing college games in the south. This Saturday, he works the The Citadel-Furman game with Bob Mihalic on ESPN3. Mentioning The Citadel, one time Buffalo Bills standout and later quipster and commentator, Paul Maguire played his college ball there. Paul is retired after working as an analyst for NBC and ESPN. He’s 81.
ESPN sent out a press release yesterday stating that its Saturday Night SEC telecast of Florida vs. LSU averaged 6,450,000 viewers, It was the network’s most-watched college game in nearly two years. The broadcast was also the highest rated sporting event of the night aired by any network. Not to be outdone, rival Fox released numbers claiming that it had the highest rated sporting event of the day, running the noon rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma.
Fox is challenging ESPN for supremacy of televised college football. The Foxies say that its overall college football viewership is up 27% over a season ago and that its Noon window is up 30%, year-over-year. Fox’ pre game show features former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
For those wondering about the travel challenges of Gene Deckerhoff last week, he pulled it off! Gene worked the first quarter of the Florida State game at Clemson, then left to take a private plane to Atlanta, where he crossed the Atlantic, flying commercially to London. There, he broadcast the entire Bucs’ loss to the Panthers. So, yes the Voice of the Seminoles and Bucs was 2-0 this past weekend. His teams though were 0-2. Florida State was trounced by the Tigers.
Should Matt Vasergian be relieved of his Sunday night MLB play-by-play duties by ESPN, something Andrew Marchand of the NY Post speculated could happen, Dave Flemming who works this weekend and Boog Sciambi are two candidates Marchand says would be considered for the gig.
Joe Davis has a busy Thursday and Friday. He’ll be doing game #5 of the Yankees-Astros ALCS, moving in for Joe Buck who will call the NFL Thursday nighter. On Friday, Davis shuffles over to Chicago for Ohio State’s visit to Northwestern. That one will be on FS1.
Gus Johnson will empty his lungs this weekend teamed with Joel Klatt on West Virginia at Oklahoma. Talking of Klatt, he and Curt Menefee will be the lead Fox team on the XFL. Meanwhile, Steve Levy, Dan Orlovsky and Pat McAfee will be the broadcast team calling XFL games on ESPN. Levy and Brian Griese are in the ESPN booth for Tennessee at #1 Alabama.
Allen Bestwick, longtime NASCAR broadcaster, has Princeton-Brown this week. No sight this week of ‘ER (Emergency Room) Jerry Punch.’
Three women hold play-by-play microphones this weekend, Kate Scott, Oregon State at Cal for the Pac 12 Network. ESPN has Beth Mowins on Purdue-Iowa and Lisa Byington has Minnesota at Rutgers for the Big Ten Network. Mowins is experienced, Kate I haven’t heard and Lisa I have heard. She’s a fine reporter.
Enjoy your college football! It begins tonight!
Jake Baskin has a profile of Fox’ Brian Custer – See it below the schedule
Wednesday, Oct. 16
South Alabama at Troy | 8 p.m. | ESPN2 Chris Cotter, Ray Bentley
Thursday, Oct. 17
Louisiana at Arkansas State | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU Mark Neely, Cole Cubelic
UCLA at Stanford | 9 p.m. | ESPN Adam Amin, Matt Hasselbeck, Pat McAfee,
Friday, Oct. 18
Marshall at Florida Atlantic | 6:30 p.m. | CBSSN Jason Horowitz, Danny Kanell
Pitt at Syracuse | 7 p.m. | ESPN Dave Flemming, Jim Mora, Paul Carcaterra
No. 4 Ohio State at Northwestern | 8:30 p.m. | BTN Joe Davis, Brock Huard
UNLV at Fresno State | 10 p.m. | CBSSN Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor
Saturday, Oct. 19
No. 3 Clemson at Louisville | 12 p.m. | ABC Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky
No. 9 Florida at South Carolina | 12 p.m. | ESPN Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy
Purdue at No. 23 Iowa | 12 p.m. | ESPN2 Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht
West Virginia at No. 5 Oklahoma | 12 p.m. | FOX Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt
Georgia Tech at Miami | 12 p.m. | ACC Network Wes Durham, Roddy Jones
No. 11 Auburn at Arkansas | 12 p.m. | SEC Network Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb
No. 6 Wisconsin at Illinois | 12 p.m. | Big Ten Network Kevin Kugler, Matt Millen
Iowa State at Texas Tech | 12 p.m. | FS1 Brian Custer and Robert Smith
Kent State at Ohio | 12 p.m. | CBSSN Dave Ryan, Corey Chavous
N.C. State at Boston College | 12 p.m. | ACC Network Extra Evan Lepler, Dave Archer
Houston at UConn | 12 p.m. | ESPNU Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia
Princeton at Brown | 12:30 PM | NESN+, ESPN+ Allen Bestwick, Nick Coit
The Citadel at Furman 1 p.m.| ESPN3 | Bob Mihalic, Sam Wyche
South Dakota State at Indiana State | 1 p.m. ESPN3: Adam Seidel, Danan Hughes
Gardner-Webb at Monmouth | 1 p.m. |ESPN3: Matt Harmon, Eddy Occhipinti
Dayton at Stetson | 1 p.m.| ESPN+ Evan Weston, Victor Anderson
Davidson at Jacksonville | 1 p.m.| ESPN+ Scott Manze, David Lamm
Penn at Columbia | 1: 30 p.m. | SNY, ESPN+ Lance Medow, Shawn FitzGerald
Western Carolina at Wofford | 1:30 p.m. |Nexstar, ESPN+ Pete Yanity, Jared Singleton
No. 2 LSU at Mississippi State | 3:30 p.m. | CBS Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson
Toledo at Ball State | 2 p.m. | ESPN+ Michael Reghi, Dustin Fox
Central Michigan at Bowling Green | 2 p.m. | ESPN3 Shawn Kenney, Forrest Conoly
Oregon State at California | 2:30 p.m. | Pac-12 Network Kate Scott, Chad Brown
TCU at Kansas State | 2:30 p.m. | FSN Justin Kutcher, Petros Papadakis
Northern Illinois at Miami (OH) | 2:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Jay Barbar, John Gregor
New Mexico at Wyoming | 3 p.m. | AT&T Sportsnet Drew Goodman, Sed Bonner
Portland State at Northern Colorado | 3:30 p.m. | ELVN, Pluto TV 541: Bill Doleman, Justin Adams
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Southern | 3 p.m. | ESPN3 Greg Talbott, Danny Waugh
Jackson State at Mississippi State | 3pm | ESPN 3 Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker
Indiana at Maryland | 3:30 p.m. | Big Ten Network Mike Monaco, Stanley Jackson
Duke at Virginia | 3:30 p.m. | ACC Network Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich
No. 12 Oregon at No. 25 Washington | 3:30 p.m. | ABC Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge
No. 20 Minnesota at Rutgers | 3:30 p.m. | Big Ten Network Lisa Byington, J Leman
Tulsa at No. 21 Cincinnati | 3:30 p.m. | ESPNU Kevin Brown, Andre Ware
South Florida at Navy | 3:30 p.m. | CBSSN John Sadak, Randy Cross
UL Monroe at No. 24 Appalachian State | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Harrison Battle, Pierre Banks
North Carolina at Virginia Tech | 3:30 p.m. | ACC Network Extra Tom Werme, James Bates
Temple at No. 19 SMU | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN2 Mark Jones, Dusty Dvoracek
Buffalo at Akron | 3:30 p.m. | ESPN3 Doug Sherman, Jerod Cherry
Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech | 3:30 p.m. | NFL Network Rhett Lewis, Ben Leber
Kentucky at No. 10 Georgia | 6 p.m. | ESPN Jason Benetti, Rod Gilmore
No. 22 Missouri at Vanderbilt | 4 p.m. | SEC Network Dave Neal, DJ Shockley
Old Dominion at UAB | 4 p.m. | ESPN+ Curt Bloom, Chad Pilcher
No. 18 Baylor at Oklahoma State | 4 p.m. | FOX Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman
Middle Tennessee at North Texas | 4 p.m. | Stadium Chris Hassel, AJ Hawk
Charlotte at Western Kentucky | 4 p.m. | ESPN+ Graham Doty, Brandon Doughty
South Dakota at Northern Iowa | 5 p.m. | ESPN+ Brad Wells, Justin Surrency
Idaho State at Idaho | 5:30 PM | ROOT Tom Glasgow, Taylor Barton
No. 17 Arizona State at No. 13 Utah | 6 p.m. | Pac-12 Network Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth
Maine at Liberty | 6 p.m. | ESPN+ Matt Warner, Joe Jauch
Rice at UTSA | 6 p.m. | ESPN3 Lincoln Rose, LaDarrin McClane
Colorado at Washington State | 7 p.m. | ESPNU Roy Philpott, Kelly Stouffer
East Carolina at UCF | 7 p.m. | CBSSN Ben Holden, Ross Tucker
UTEP at Florida International | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ A.J. Ricketts, Kenny Kelly
Kansas at No. 15 Texas | 7 p.m. | Longhorn Network Lowell Galindo, Ahmad Brooks,
San Diego State at San Jose State | 7 p.m. | Facebook Ari Wolfe, Jordan Palmer
Tulane at Memphis | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 Anish Shroff, John Congemi
Army at Georgia State | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ Matt Stewart, Wayne Gandy
Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ Chris Vosters, Marcus Ray
No. 16 Michigan at No. 7 Penn State | 7:30 p.m. | ABC Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit
Florida State at Wake Forest | 7:30 p.m. | ACC Network Dave O’Brien, Tim Hasselbeck
Texas A&M at Ole Miss | 7:30 p.m. | SEC Network Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers
Tennessee at No. 1 Alabama | 9 p.m. | ESPN Steve Levy, Brian Griese
Arizona at Southern California | 9:30 p.m. | Pac-12 Network Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron
Nevada at Utah State | 10:15 p.m. | ESPNU Mike Couzens, Kirk Morrison
No. 14 Boise State at BYU | 10:15 p.m. | ESPN2 Clay Matvick, Ryan Leaf
Air Force at Hawai’i | 11 p.m. | CBSSN Rich Waltz, Aaron Murray
Brian Custer has the call for Saturday’s Big 12, high noon matchup on Fox Sports 1 between Iowa State and Texas Tech. His partner is former Ohio State star Robert Smith.
Custer, 48, graduated from Hampton University in 1993 and got his start in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio as a City Hall reporter before moving to Dallas and spending eight years as a sports anchor for CBS affiliate KTVT. He moved to New York in 2006 as an original member of SNY’s on-air talent. With SNY, Custer would host its Jets programming and nightly highlight show. He get his first play-by-play experience as the voice of SNY’s Broadway Boxing series.
Custer joined Fox Sports in 2014 as a college basketball announcer and has found his niche with both Fox and CBS as the Voice of the BIG3 basketball league. He joined the college football rotation on Fox Sports 1 in 2017, and made his NFL debut on a Bears-Dolphins game during Week 6 of the 2018 season. In addition to his play-by-play roles, Custer has built a following among fight fans as the host of Showtime Championship Boxing.