College Week #8: Fox, ESPN, ABC, CBS and conference networks air 80 games; All talent listed; Ratings up

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.