ESPN covers the bases in G-Day broadcast

Athens — The first clues that Saturday at Sanford Stadium was going to be different were the ESPN banners on the famous hedges near each goalpost and the unusual first-quarter announcement over the public address system: “Time out for television.”

For a regular-season game, neither might be considered out of the ordinary. For the annual G-day spring football game, however, they were firsts.

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Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com

Running back Carlton Thomas (30) breaks free for a 20 yard touchdown on the final play of the game. Red defeated the Black 13-3.

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“Definitely a new concept,” said Vince Dooley, who has been around Georgia football as coach, athletics director or former AD since 1964.

Announcers Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporter Wendi Nix tried to make it seem like any game you might see on an autumn day. But with nothing at stake, no second team and knowing that most viewers didn’t have a Bulldog in this fight, they faced challenges.

Low-scoring games that count can be difficult for broadcasters to keep interesting. When one happens in an intrasquad game that doesn’t count, it becomes exponentially more challenging. That’s exactly what Nessler and folk got as the Red defeated the Black 13-3, the game’s decisive points coming in the last 2-1/2 minutes, including the lone touchdown on the final play.

Even with the game’s abbreviated quarters, they had a lot of time to fill.

“Mostly we talked about the big picture, the SEC, what Georgia’s looking for,” Nessler said. “We just talked about national interest stuff; we weren’t so much worried about every play.”

They even squeezed in a phone interview with Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, a likely Heisman Trophy candidate this fall. Still, they gave viewers enough specifics to form good impressions of the Bulldogs.

“I thought [defensive end] Justin Houston and [middle linebacker] Marcus Washington looked good out there,” Nessler said. “Houston looked like a man among boys.”

Herbstreit keyed on the differences between last year’s Bulldogs and what this year’s might look like when they open Sept. 5 at Oklahoma State.

“They’re in a much better position this year,” he said. “Last year, they were supposed to be the No. 1 team. This year, they’re a bit of a forgotten team and that’s going to take the pressure off their younger players like their running back and quarterback.”

Dooley marveled at how far college football coverage has grown since he coached his last game in 1988. The ESPN telecast took him back to 1971, when he benefited from a spring game at Oregon State that just happened to be televised.

“We went out there and found out it was on [local] TV,” he said. “I had five coaches with me and I sent three to the game and another sat in the hotel room and watched on TV. Dee Andros was the [Oregon State] coach at the time. Just by listening to the TV, we picked up some things we didn’t know. It was a big help. So there’s no question that Oklahoma State was scouting this game.”