Gorgeous setting for my last broadcast of 2015

I have this vague memory of seeing, on television, a college football team in simple, blue and white uniforms, playing on a grass field with fans standing on hills to watch, running the heck out of the triple option. I watched long enough to hear the announcers refer to the stadium as the Prettiest Little Stadium in America, and I thought, "I would love to see a game there some day."

The team was Georgia Southern, six-time champions of the NCAA's Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision, or FCS), and they now play at the FBS level, in an enlarged stadium, with an attack still predicated on the run, but operated out of the shotgun.

Some day is today.

I'll be calling Georgia Southern against Georgia State on ESPN3 Saturday afternoon at 2pm ET. It's not the biggest game of the day, but I'm excited to be working and excited to get this specific assignment.

The game has one of the most prolific passing offenses in Division I football (Georgia State ranks 8th in FBS) against the best rushing attack (Georgia Southern leads FBS). Not bad for a fall Saturday.

It's also the last game at Paulson Stadium before the natural grass surface is replaced by artificial turf. While I understand the economic realities of the decision to switch, I'm glad I get to see a game here while it's still got real grass.

Hopefully those classic Georgia Southern uniforms don't change any time soon!

Looking forward to a fun one!

Back on college football, back in Troy, Alabama

I don't always call college football, but when I do … I often wind up calling the Troy Trojans.

On Saturday, I will call Troy football for the third time, and I also saw them as a spectator last year. However, the most memorable Troy game I've ever been to is a bittersweet one: The Trojans crushed Rice in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl, the Owls' first bowl appearance in 40 years. I treasure that night because I got to watch the game with my father, a fellow Rice alum who had been to our previous bowl appearance in the 1960s, but we got a pretty good butt-kicking in the actual game.

2015 marks my second visit to Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Ala. (here's a look back at my first), reachable via the airport in Montgomery, Ala., and an hour's drive south.

Naturally, Troy just happened to have its 2006 New Orleans Bowl trophy sitting in the office of new head coach Neal Brown. Thanks for the welcome!

But seriously, I'm calling Saturday's game between Troy and Charleston Southern with former FCS championship-winning coach Mickey Matthews, and we had an excellent visit with Troy on Friday. We got to take in a practice session that was definitely more practice than walkthrough, and we had excellent conversations / storytelling sessions with Brown, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, and former head coach Larry Blakeney. (They did most of the storytelling, I did most of the listening and a good share of the laughing.)

Charleston Southern is a small Baptist school that just got lights for its football stadium and was ecstatic to draw more than 4,000 fans for its home opener last week. But the Buccaneers have been excellent recently, are used to winning, and took Vanderbilt down to the wire last year. What's more, they run an unusual option attack that is very difficult to defend. For a Troy program that is in rebuilding mode, this is no simple task. Still, the Trojans will have a size advantage, run an up-tempo offense that can also be difficult to defend, and should be highly  motivated.

So it should be a good one! Mickey and I are asking for good weather and a close game, so check it out Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3!

Experiencing an SEC football game on the plains of Auburn

I was in Auburn, Alabama last weekend to call the Iron Bowl of Soccer - Auburn vs. Alabama - and got a dramatic finish in a 1-0 Tiger victory in overtime.

The night before, I had the chance to take in my first conference football game in the SEC - Auburn vs. South Carolina - and go behind the scenes with the SEC Network broadcast of the game. It was a really fun experience, and I thought I'd share some of my pictures and my impressions:

Football opening day in photos -- Aug. 30

I have the fortune to cover multiple sports, and each is interesting and exciting in its own way. Saturday meant the beginning of college football season for most FBS and FCS schools, including the two whose games I called, Buffalo (FBS) and Duquesne (FCS).

It was the in-game broadcast debut of 15-year NFL veteran Vonnie Holliday, who was fun to work with both ahead of time and during the game itself. Here's to many more opportunities for Vonnie and, possibly, for us to work together!

On Friday, after flying in from our respective homes, we met up with our producer at UB Stadium to attend Buffalo's walkthrough. You don't always get a lot out of walkthroughs, but we certainly learned plenty from this one. We learned about a change in the starting offensive line, watched Buffalo work on avoiding bouncing punts, and met nose tackle Kristjan Sokoli, whose family gradually moved to North Jersey from Albania during his childhood.

We also got a look at the Buffalo facilities, including a wall that highlighted the school's all-time leaders in various football categories. That included their most famous football alum, Khalil Mack, who was the No. 5 pick in this year's draft (by the Raiders), and who - as it turned out - came to the game on Saturday.

On game day, we arrived early (around 12:45 for a 3:30 game) to test equipment and rehearse some of the elements of our show. Our broadcast position was a little cramped, but we certainly couldn't complain about the vantage point!

We detoured down to the field to meet Duquesne head coach Jerry Schmitt, who had been very helpful earlier in the week when we talked on a conference call, and - of course - to take a selfie!

After planning to pre-record our opening segment, we wound up doing it live, but I think it ended up being very competitive with our rehearsals, so we were proud of handling that situation well.

Once the game began, Buffalo got off to a good start, but the weather wouldn't cooperate: We had a lightning delay midway through the first quarter. Thankfully we were NOT called on to kill time for the entire 40-minute delay, so we recharged just like the teams did.

After Buffalo controlled most of the first half, a turnover late in the second quarter (when Buffalo's return man failed to avoid a bouncing punt -- remember the walkthrough!?) put Duquesne back in the game. The Dukes, playing an FBS opponent for the first time, promptly dominated the third quarter and actually took a 28-24 lead early in the fourth quarter, much to our surprise.

Buffalo eventually pulled away for the win, however, using a go-ahead touchdown and a clock-eating drive to do so by a 38-28 score. That left Vonnie and I to wrap things up in a post-game segment, and we didn't get back to the hotel until after 9 p.m., not at all what we expected with a 3:30 kickoff!

All in all, a fun opening weekend for both of us. No football for me this weekend (Sept. 6), as I'll be attending a wedding, and I have a lot of weekends tied up with soccer this fall, but I hope to get some more football games under my belt as well!

My college football season kicks off with Buffalo vs. Duquesne Saturday on ESPN3

Most of you know me for calling soccer games or working in soccer, but this weekend I'll be stepping away to call college football for ESPN3. I am a big fan of several sports, and this is a chance to call one of them!

Sept. 1, 2012 - My CFB debut.

Football, Yardley-Style
Two years ago was my first experience calling college football (although I had called high school games in Texas, which occasionally has more fans than some college teams), and it was awesome. Over the course of the 2012 season, I called nine games, most with former Florida State offensive lineman Forrest Conoly, ranging from an opening-day game between two first-year FBS programs to the FCS quarterfinals featuring North Dakota State, then en route to the second of its three consecutive (and counting) national championships.

The rhythm of flying to a different college city each week, learning the teams and the context of their seasons, trying to take in some of the local culture, and then calling three-and-a-half hours of intensity, was exactly what I was looking for, and it made me want college football to be part of my portfolio going forward.

It didn't happen last year, in part because I missed the first three weeks of the season while traveling and moving to New York, and in part because there are fewer games covered by ESPN3 in reasonable travel distance of my new home.

Always nice to see your name listed near Brent Musberger's.

This year, however, I'm back on the schedule, at least for one week: I'll be calling Buffalo vs. Duquesne on Saturday at 3:30 pm ET on ESPN3! I've got a new partner for this one, 15-year NFL veteran Vonnie Holliday, and I can't wait to get started.



This Week's Game
As so many early-season games are, this one appears a bit of a mismatch. Buffalo went to a bowl game last year, while Duquesne is an FCS team offering only 35 scholarships. But Buffalo lost three of the best players in its history -- No. 5 NFL draft pick Khalil Mack, who's kind of impressive, tailback Branden Oliver and top receiving option Alex Neutz. In their last game against an FCS opponent in September 2013, the Bulls needed five (yes, that's right, five!) overtimes to beat Stony Brook.

Duquesne is coming off a season in which the Dukes were, in their minds, less than seven minutes away from winning the Northeast Conference outright and earning a bid to the FCS tournament. Having missed three field goals, they ultimately fell to Sacred Heart 10-0, so when the teams tied for the NEC title, Sacred Heart got the automatic bid. For the Dukes, this year is about winning that conference title outright and getting to the dance. Winning the opener may be highly unlikely, but they will not be short on motivation or effort, and I'm looking forward to seeing what both teams bring into their respective 2014 campaigns.

Both the Bulls and Dukes have hometown-hero quarterbacks, with Buffalo's Joe Licata (pronouncd li-COT-uh) the leader of an effort to build sustained success at Buffalo, historically not a great market for college football but one that led the MAC in attendance last year. Dillon Buechel has skills rarely seen by a program used to building on Steelers-style football: defense and the punishing rushers of western Pennsylvania. Buechel (pronounced BEE-kul) was one of the top 20 freshmen in the FCS last year.

Having watched video and studied flash cards all week, I'll be flying to Buffalo on Friday and checking out UB Stadium before calling Saturday's game. Give it a look if you've got some time -- Vonnie's 6-foot-5, so I'll be the short one this time!

Photo blog: My trip to North Dakota

I got the wonderful chance this week to visit North Dakota for the first time, letting me cross another state off my list. Not too many left! Somewhat fittingly, I ended up getting stuck in Fargo, N.D., for an extra day after my Sunday-morning flight was cancelled, but here's a photo blog from my first two days in this cold, cold state:

Friday was a long, long travel day. Shreveport-Fargo is not exactly a direct flight. It took 10+ hours, three flights, and a roughly 40-degree dip in temperature.

7 a.m. flight from Shreveport.

Connecting in Denver.

4:30 p.m. arrival in Fargo.

NDSU is everywhere in Fargo.

Naturally, my first destination was the Fargodome, capacity somewhere upwards of 18,000.

The inimitable Fargodome.

I met up with my partner, Ben Leber, and some of our crew on Friday night, and by airtime on Saturday, we were ready to go.

Former Vikings LB Ben Leber, a South Dakota native
who is well-known and popular in the area.

Almost time for kick-off.

The game itself was low-scoring but intense and highly entertaining. Both teams used a lot of clock with every possession, with Wofford trying to upset the defending FCS champion. North Dakota State's dominating defense (no offensive touchdowns allowed in last 14 quarters of playoff football) made crucial third- and fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter to advance to the FCS semifinals next week.

Noise level upward of 100 decibels at times during
the game, won by NDSU 14-7 behind its top-rated defense.

Afterward, a look at the production truck responsible for making us look good.

Behind-the-scenes magic.

Since it was a day game and I'm a long-time amateur hockey fan, I took the chance to drive 87 miles up to Grand Forks, N.D. to see the famed Ralph Engelstad Arena at the University of North Dakota. Despite some wind and really poor visibility, I'm very glad I went. The arena and atmosphere, with a sold-out crowd of 11,799, were simply amazing, and it was great to see some live hockey. Great end to a very fun sports day.

Yeah, it was snowing as I got to the arena midway through the first period.

As for the game, UND beat Denver 6-3 in WCHA action.

Enjoying a different type of football

Home fans and their distinctive orange at
Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas

I’m kind of a niche-sport guy. Always have been and maybe always will be. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy some of the big ones – Major League Baseball, college football, the NFL, the Stanley Cup playoffs – but I really get a kick out of covering sports I like that don’t get all that many headlines. College baseball, high school ice hockey, and – of course – Major League Soccer.

So when assigned an FCS college football playoff game last weekend, I was psyched. I watch these games on TV every year and really enjoy the football division formerly known as Division I-AA.

I got the matchup between Sam Houston State, last year’s runner-up, and Cal Poly. Oddly enough, I had already been to both teams’ home stadiums, but neither for a college football game. Throw in a reasonable, three-hour drive from Shreveport to Huntsville, Texas, and my trusty broadcast partner, Forrest Conoly, and I was anticipating a fun afternoon on Saturday.

The broadcast itself had a few more elements than we have had in our other games, including on-camera reporting at halftime, coach interviews, regular promotional reads for other ESPN broadcasts, and more. It sounds like par for the course for a lot of the broadcasts you see, but it is not the norm for us. That takes some getting used to, but it was pretty similar to a lot of the soccer broadcasts I’ve done, so I didn’t feel like we were overwhelmed by some of the moving parts.

We had a great production crew, from the guys in the truck to those manning cameras to the stage managers in the booth with us. While we’re used to working with solid crews, this was probably the best top-to-bottom group we’ve worked with on a football game this year, and it included a few friendly faces I know from Houston.

Our open aired while it was still light out.

I got to voice-over the most elaborate tease we’ve had this year – including video of the giant Sam Houston statue – and I thought we did well in the open. The game itself was a little disjointed, and it took us time to get in a rhythm. Both teams came in with great offensive reputations, but they struggled to reach the end zone. The first score of the game was a blocked punt that went for a safety, and that actually ended up being the difference. We did see a cool double-reverse touchdown pass from Cal Poly in the final minutes, but the Mustangs’ onside kick was recovered by Sam Houston State, and the Bearkats are on to the quarterfinals against Montana State.

It may not have been the perfect game or the perfect broadcast, but I really enjoy covering teams and sports that you don’t hear about on every sports talk show. Plus I think it’s great to cover playoff football at the college level, and Saturday’s game definitely had some of that desperate intensity that the playoffs can produce. I’m looking to more of the same next week, in what will probably be my final broadcast of the 2012 calendar year, so stay tuned.

Great day of college football

Getting set up in Lafayette.

I'm feeling good tonight after Forrest Conoly and I called Louisiana-Lafayette's come-from-behind win over Western Kentucky at Cajun Field in Lafayette. Good broadcast, good game, and we got to watch the entertaining end of the two big upsets at dinner afterward. How can you argue with a day like that?

This was our second trip to Cajun Field and our third broadcast of the Ragin' Cajuns, while we were seeing Western Kentucky for the first time. Still, I felt through research and talking to coaches from both teams, we had a good handle on both teams. It was nice to see some familiar faces before the game, and the staff from both sides did a good job of preparing us for a few things - Louisiana-Lafayette's black jerseys, some WKU lineup changes, etc.

Nobody warned me about the details of the Cajuns' black jerseys, however! They had a giant fleur de lis on the front, rather than numbers, which is a nightmare for broadcasters. There were mini numbers on the front up by the shoulder pads, but seeing those from a camera well is virtually impossible. It created a few challenges. The jerseys also had French words on the name plate, so I did my best to translate them on the fly. I got combattre (to fight), croire (to believe), and unité (unity), but I wasn't sure on fierté, which turned out to be pride. My bad.

Our open airs shortly before kickoff.

The open is the part of the broadcast where the focus is most on us as hosts. We're on camera and we're singling out storylines, rather than taking from what the game gives us. So naturally we take some pride in putting together something presentable. Our open wasn't 100-percent flawless, but it was definitely the best we've done this year. We ran through it once to get an idea of timing of graphics, and then we knocked it out. We laughed and had fun with some nicknames (Forrest dubbed UL receiver Harry Peoples "The Peoples Choice," which we used throughout the game) and, hopefully, established the game as a battle for bowl positioning. I said "blocked field goal" instead of "blocked punt" in reference to the Ragin' Cajuns' loss last week to Florida, but otherwise I thought we got our facts straight.

The game lived up to our expectations, with Western Kentucky controlling the ball through its dominant ground game and tailback Antonio Andrews (300+ all-purpose yards for the third straight game, leads the country.) Louisiana-Lafayette was effective too, largely thanks to the versatility of quarterback Terrance Broadway, but it looked like four turnovers would undo them. Leading by three late in the game, WKU elected to punt and pin Louisiana-Lafayette in its own end rather than go for it on 4th-and-1, which seemed uncharacteristic for head coach Willie Taggart. Seemed like a decent move when the punt was downed at the 7, but Broadway led the Ragin' Cajuns on a dramatic drive and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a quarterback draw in the final minute. (ESPN video)

A good night to work in college football.

That was exciting enough to call, with Cajun Field going nuts - the crowd noise in our headsets was crazy! But then Western Kentucky got into position for a pretty decent Hail Mary, but it was at the back of the end zone, and the receiver (actually the starting safety) was ruled out of bounds. WKU asked for a replay review, but for some reason it never came, and the only angle we saw was, unfortunately, not very clear.

A dramatic night and two teams that are very fun to call - I'll be rooting for them down the road.

You know you're in Texas when ...

It's game day in San Antonio, and as if Forrest and I needed another reminder, our hotel breakfast let us know exactly which state we are in.

We went to the UTSA walk-through yesterday afternoon and were very impressed with the Alamodome - looking forward to seeing and hearing the crowd this afternoon.

To get ready for today's game, which you can watch on ESPN3 and discuss on Twitter with the hashtag #SJSUvsUTSA, you can also check out today's articles from the local papers:

San Antonio Express-News:   Preview  |  Keys to Victory  |  Key Matchups  |  Player Spotlight
San Jose Mercury-News:   Preview  |  Game Facts

Kickoff is 1 p.m. Central Time - check it out!

Big questions face UTSA, San Jose State

San Jose State QB David Fales and UTSA RB David Glasco
square off Saturday.

This weekend, I’m headed to San Antonio for some college football, covering UTSA against San Jose State for ESPN3. It’s Homecoming and the first home conference game for UTSA, which is in its first year of a two-year transition to the FBS level. As such, the Roadrunners’ 5-1 record is a bit misleading; they are 2-1 against FBS opponents, including South Alabama, which is in its second year of the same two-year transition. San Jose State entered conference play as a title contender along with favorite Louisiana Tech and Utah State, but a lopsided loss to Utah State last week dampened the Spartans’ confidence somewhat.

I’ll be working the game with former Florida State offensive lineman Forrest Conoly, a familiar face by now, and we spent some time this week on the phone with both coaching staffs. There are a lot of matchups and sub-plots to keep an eye on, but here are the two biggest questions of the game:

Can San Jose State’s offense bounce back?
San Jose State was sacked 13 times last week. 13! That’s only two shy of the NCAA record. Nobody expects UTSA to duplicate that effort; the Roadrunners’ defensive front is nowhere near the equal of Utah State’s, and San Jose State will definitely make some adjustments. But UTSA is going to have to get pressure on Spartan quarterback David Fales, a junior college transfer with an almost unerringly accurate arm. If Fales is forced to move in the pocket, it could disrupt his throws enough to keep UTSA in the game. San Jose State will also try to take some pressure off Fales and his receivers by running the ball – after all, Rice ran for 301 yards against the Roadrunners last week – and the UTSA defense will likely need to continue producing turnovers to win the game.

Can UTSA win without a full-strength Eric Soza?
Roadrunners quarterback Eric Soza scored the first touchdown in program history, has started every game, and rarely misses a snap. Any discussion of team leaders starts with him. So when he jogged to the locker room with a hip injury late in the first half last week, it was a troublesome sign. He returned to play the second half and practiced this week, but he is still a question mark for Saturday and will not be at 100 percent even if he does play. It is asking a lot of UTSA, which is probably outmanned on pure talent, to win without him or with him at less than 100 percent. If he cannot go, redshirt freshman Ryan Polite should get the call; he looked good on two drives against Rice. How the possibly hampered Soza or the inexperienced Polite performs will be the first make-or-break challenge facing UTSA.

Players to watch
San Jose State
10 David Fales, QB 162-316, 1,867 yards, 12 TDs, 3 INTs
Coaches on both sides rave about his accuracy, capable of squeezing throws into tight spaces, and Fales has talented receivers to make it pay off. He struggled to get rid of the ball quickly, however, against Utah State's fearsome pass rush.
43 Travis Johnson, DE 39 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks
As consistent as they come, Johnson continues to get into opposing backfield despite facing regular double-teams. He's tied for the national lead with a tackle for loss in 12 consecutive games, and he is the only player from a non-BCS school to be one of 25 quarterfinalists for the Rotary Lombardi Award.

UTSA
1 Kam Jones, WR 12 receptions, 205 yards, 1 TD
Forrest always likes to ask about a 'wild guy,' and Jones is it. A former high school quarterback from small town Edna, Texas, Jones can catch, run, and throw from his wide receiver spot. He hasn't scored since the season opener, but he's the offensive playmaker.
17 Erik Brown, CB 16 tackles, 4 interceptions, 1 forced fumble in 5 games
Brown was a high school star at local power Converse Judson, but finished high school in Arizona and began his college career at Fresno State. Back home in Texas, he is responsible for five of UTSA's 17 forced turnovers and a key player in a secondary that faces a stiff test on Saturday.

Fun with nicknames

Cajun Field prior to kickoff.

We had some fun with nicknames on our ESPN3 college football broadcast Saturday night, as I covered Louisiana-Lafayette against FIU, teamed with my first repeat partner of the football season, one Mr. Forrest Conoly. We used nicknames or variations for several players on the broadcast, but it actually all started earlier in the day.

Before every game, the analyst provides ‘Keys to the Game,’ one of those segments you see on just about every broadcast. To keep it from being too straightforward and clichéd, the production staff often tries to use puns or wordplay in the on-screen graphic, counting on the announcer to explain its meaning.

For this game, Forrest and I met with our producer in the afternoon at one of the hotels. It had poured the night before, was raining again, and the forecast called for scattered thunderstorms throughout the night. We figured throwing the ball could be tough, so the ground game would be important, and Louisiana-Lafayette uses a two-back system, rotating a bigger back (Alonzo Harris) with a quicker back (Effrem Reed). We didn’t want to put ‘run the ball’ on the graphic, so we looked out the window, and quickly arrived at a(n admittedly clichéd) moniker: ‘Thunder and Lightning.’ This has been used for countless running back duos, so it is not at all original, but we liked the double entendre referencing both their running styles and the weather.

Once the game began, Forrest of course explained his keys to the game – “That’s Alonzo Harris and his ability to be a powerful runner, as well as Effrem Reed and his scatback ability to get to the outside and get those corners” and later elaborated further – but I don’t know if fans got the second meaning, given that there was no literal rain, thunder, or lightning during the game. At any rate, we had fun with it, and Forrest would occasionally call them simply ‘Thunder’ or ‘Lightning’ while analyzing a replay. I, the straight man, used their names while calling play-by-play.

But I had to have some fun when the Ragin’ Cajuns went to seldom-used wide receiver Bradley Brown, a transfer from Northwestern State in his first year at the FBS level. While doing research for my first Louisiana-Lafayette game, I had learned that his high school nickname was ‘Downtown,’ courtesy of an article at theGaiterView.com. This developed in my head into a rhythmic ‘Downtown Bradley Brown,’ vaguely reminiscent of the Jim Croce song ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.’

So when Brown got into the game late in the first quarter and made a big catch, I couldn’t resist saying, “Bradley Brown – they call him ‘Downtown Bradley Brown’ –with the first-down catch.” I figured that was all I would get out of it. But two plays later, Cajuns quarterback Blaine Gautier found Brown in a lot of space, and I had my chance to use it live: “Catch is made by Brown, and he’s going downtown!” He couldn't quite finish the play, as two FIU defensive backs were able to pull him down inside the 20-yard line, but it was definitely a fun one to call. If that nickname ever started to wear off, hopefully this helps him bring it back!

I also made a few puns with UL quarterback Terrance Broadway, the unquestioned star of the game after passing for 228 yards and one touchdown and running for 28 yards and two more scores. I don’t think I’m the first to make a ‘Broadway’ joke, and I’m sure I won’t be the last (especially with the unfortunate news that starting QB Blaine Gautier will be out at least four weeks with broken bones in his throwing hand.)

Anyway, those are some of the nicknames we dropped on the broadcast, the last one we have scheduled with ESPN3 at the moment. We’re a bit of a size mismatch for on-camera portions of the broadcast (Forrest is 6-foot-7, I’m somewhere in the 5-11/6-0 range), but I think we complement each other well in most other aspects and, most importantly, we enjoy working together. Hopefully we get the chance to do some more games this year, maybe even involving Louisiana-Lafayette. After all, the Cajuns are 2-0 when we call the shots.

An Obama sighting in ... Texas?

Dan McCarney addresses the Mean Green Friday.

I haven't had time to blog about my game this weekend, North Texas vs. Troy, but it's not because I haven't been preparing for it. I arrived in Denton on Friday afternoon and quickly headed to highly-regarded Apogee Stadium, which opened last year, for the Mean Green's walk-through. I ended up seeing a more than credible impersonation of President Barack Obama, about the last thing I expected to find in Texas, as part of the North Texas post-game speeches.

The impersonation came from actor Aaron Norvell, who played under Dan McCarney at Wisconsin in the early 90s and was one of two of McCarney's former players invited to speak to North Texas following its light workout. As McCarney put it, "I don't let anybody speak to this team unless they're special, I love them, or both," and it was a nice way to close the afternoon.

In terms of the game, it's a great "battle of philosophies," as Troy head coach (and Friday birthday boy) Larry Blakeney put it, between Troy's wide-open, up-tempo aerial attack (537.7 yards per game) and the battering, physical, ball-possession approach favored by North Texas. To put it in perspective, Troy threw more passes in one game this year (75 against Louisiana-Lafayette) than North Texas has all season (73). Both teams, former conference powerhouses, badly need a win to get into the Sun Belt Conference title race.

The real key to the game, though, will be turnovers. Troy is an abysmal -5 on the season, including turnovers on four straight possessions against Mississippi State last week - the Trojans wound up losing by one score. North Texas is +3, and I think the Mean Green will have to win the turnover battle again to open the year with a win.

Apogee Stadium, opened 2011.

For more on the game, check out the excellent blogs by the teams' respective beat-writers, outgoing Drew Champlin (Dothan Eagle) and  Brett Vito (Denton Record-Chronicle).

Tonight's game kicks off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.

Why you should watch: Saturday's Sun Belt opener for Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette

After an early wake-up call in Shreveport, I returned to southern Alabama for the second consecutive weekend, this time for tomorrow night's Sun Belt Conference opener between Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette. My partner for this game will be former Florida State offensive lineman Forrest Conoly, and we had a great time this afternoon touring the Troy campus and talking with Trojans head coach Larry Blakeney. One thing to watch for on the broadcast: There's a slight height differential. As in, Forrest stands 6-foot-7, and I would be generously listed as 6-foot-0. We'll see if the camera can fit us in the same picture.

Turning to the game, I think it's going to be a good one. Troy was 3-9 last year, but the Trojans dominated the conference from 2006-10, and they haven't lost a home opener since the mid-1980s (24 wins in a row since a tie in 1987). With an enthusiastic crowd expected, this is their chance to prove to themselves and their fans that they can contend for the conference title once again.

On the other side, Louisiana-Lafayette (they prefer just 'UL') may have the most momentum of any program in the conference. The Ragin Cajuns (can't say that nickname enough) are coming off of the best season in school history (9-4) and a dramatic New Orleans Bowl victory over San Diego State. That energized their passionate fan base, which had the largest attendance increase in the NCAA last year, and has helped second-year head coach Mark Hudspeth's recruiting efforts for the future.

Both teams see themselves as Sun Belt contenders and have reason to believe they can win the tone-setting conference opener. What I'm excited about for tomorrow night:

1. The atmosphere
Troy is an under-the-radar football hotbed. A long-time Division II powerhouse that transitioned to Division I back in 2002, Trojan fans have tremendous pride in their history of conference titles and NFL players. (For the record, I've had healthy respect for them since they kicked my Rice Owls' butts in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl.) I expect Troy fans to come out in force for the home opener, but I also expect Ragin Cajun fans to travel well and provide some support for the visitors. If the rain holds off (which remains a bit iffy, but we can hope), 33,000-seat Veterans Memorial Stadium should be rocking.

2. Quarterbacks
Any discussion of these two teams has to start with their signal-callers, the MVPs of the last two New Orleans Bowl games. Troy junior Corey Robinson set a national high-school record with 91 touchdown passes in one season as a senior in Paducah, Kent., and he's thrown for 3,400+ yards in back-to-back seasons. On the other side, UL senior Blaine Gautier makes the Cajuns go. He can throw the deep ball - although he was erratic downfield in the season-opening win - and scramble when necessary. He tied Jake Delhomme's school record with five career games of 300+ yards passing, except Gautier did it in a single season. Yeah, these guys can play.

3. Second, third, fourth chances
Both teams have guys who have overcome long odds, adversity, or their own mistakes to become productive collegiate players. For example, Troy walk-on linebacker De'Von Terry, the reigning SBC Defensive Player of the Week, used to be excused from some practices by Blakeney so he could earn enough money to stay in school. Lafayette linebacker Le'Marcus Gibson and Troy safety Barry Valcin are both sixth-year seniors who had to apply for extra years of collegiate eligibility, while Gibson and teammates Tig Barksdale and Delvin Jones are both playing at their third school. These are just some examples, but we're going to be watching a lot of seriously motivated guys tomorrow night.

4. The big men
They may not be quite as big as my esteemed partner, but both teams have some big guys up front who you will definitely notice. As Blakeney put it, "the guys who hit each other on every play" are going to play a big role. Each team has three linemen upwards of 290 pounts, led by the Quave brothers - Daniel and Mykhael - at guard for UL and Troy center Kyle Wilborn. On the defensive side, watch for Lafayette nose tackle Justin Hamilton, a 330-pound sophomore who forced two fumbles against Lamar, and the speed of Troy ends Tony Davis and Marty Stadom.

5. Throwback kickers
Both teams employ specialists who handle punting and placekicking, which seems kind of old-school. Lafayette's Brett Baer is closing in on the NCAA record for kicking accuracy and hit from 50+ yards last week. He's also 7-for-9 on onside kicks in his career, recovering four of them himself. Troy's Will Scott, a junior college transfer signed for his punting, won the kicking spot and hit from 44 yards against UAB. If my opener was any indication, one or both of these guys could be lining up some high-pressure kicks on Saturday night. I hope you'll tune in to see it.

Saturday night's game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.

Why you should watch: the most exciting players in Saturday's UTSA-South Alabama game

If you know nothing about UTSA and South Alabama’s college football teams, you’re probably not as interested as I am in a post breaking down the game, matchup by matchup.

So here’s a primer on some players I’m excited to see on Saturday – if you tune in, I think you’ll enjoy watching them too.

1. Kam Jones, WR, UTSA #1
5-11, 190 lbs, redshirt sophomore from Edna HS in southeast Texas
This is the guy you need to locate before the snap on every UTSA play. You’ll see him wide, in the slot, in the backfield, and even taking a direct snap once in a while. Quick and a great broken-field runner, he led the Roadrunners with 881 all-purpose yards last year after setting the tone for the season by returning the opening kickoff 37 yards and across midfield.

2. Jake Johnson, LB, South Alabama #42
6-1, 240 lbs, fifth-year senior from Stafford HS in Fredericksburg, Va.
Played at Virginia Tech 2008-09.
This guy plays like an animal. A weightroom fanatic who says his favorite NFL player is Jared Allen, he finds a way to be everywhere on defense from the center of South Alabama's 3-4 scheme. The play that stands out in my mind came against UTSA last year, when Johnson showed blitz up the middle, read the snap count perfectly, and got to the quarterback before the tailback did, forcing a fumble in the process. Not somebody you want to get hit by.

3. Eric Soza, QB, UTSA #8
6-0, 200 lbs, redshirt junior from Beeville Jones HS in southeast Texas
Redshirted at Texas State 2009.
As a Rice alumnus, I have a special fondness for the option, and Soza runs a terrific one. I appreciate a quarterback who can wait until the last second to pitch the ball, then absorb a big hit and get right back up, and Soza does it time and again. His backfield movement and ballhandling is very deceptive, and he’s not bad through the air.

4. Tyrell Pearson, CB, South Alabama #9
5-8, 150 lbs, junior from Greenville HS in South Carolina
Played at Mesa Comm. Coll. In Arizona 2010-11.
This guy basically got himself a Division I scholarship based off of a highlight tape that looked like an action movie, so that’s impressive to begin with. Described as a pure ballhawk, everybody who’s seen him says, “You’re going to love watching this guy play,” and I don’t doubt it.

5. Triston Wade, S, UTSA #14
5-11, 170 lbs, sophomore from Tyler John Tyler HS in east Texas
This is a guy starting at safety as a true sophomore even after committing at least seven personal-foul penalties last year and being ejected from a game! It’s because he is a huge hitter, forcing five turnovers last year and separating numerous other receivers from the ball. If he can control himself and his timing, expect to see some big plays.

6. Demetre Baker, RB, South Alabama #33
6-1, 210 lbs, sophomore from Orange Park HS in Florida
You see a lot of skill players who were track and field stars in high school, but how many of them were stars in the shot put and discus? Baker is a bruising running back who also happens to be the South Alabama school record holder in the shot put. I’m looking forward to watching him run, but I bet UTSA isn’t – Baker scored the game-winning touchdown in double overtime last year.

Saturday afternoon's game will kick off at 2 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.

Common experience: UTSA, South Alabama share common threads

Weather permitting, South Alabama and UTSA will play their inaugural games as NCAA FBS teams, albeit transitional ones, on Thursday night Saturday afternoon. Weather permitting, I’ll call the game on ESPN3 alongside former Auburn offensive lineman Cole Cubelic. Fortune permitting, we’ll get a game as competitive as these teams played last year.

Yes, it is the first game at the FBS level for both teams, two of the four transitional FBS teams in 2012, along with Texas State and UMass. But UTSA and South Alabama met last year when both were competing as FCS independents, with the Jaguars winning at the Alamodome in double overtime. (Check out the highlights.) While there are plenty of differences in terms of Xs and Os (and I plan to look at some later in the week) and in terms of the path both teams took to prepare for an FBS schedule, they share any number of attributes and common storylines.

This game has been a long time coming for just about everybody on both teams: UTSA spent a full season just practicing in 2010, while South Alabama spent two years beating up on prep and lower-division schools in 2009-10. Last year, playing as independent FCS teams, both groups always had one eye on this year and this game. There’s going to be a lot of emotion attached to the first game at the FBS level, so in that sense, the teams come in on equal footing.

In scouting the teams, similarities also jumped out at three positions, providing three pairs of players to watch and focus on as we count down to the 2012 college football season:

1. Ubiquitous linebackers
Both teams’ defenses are led by take-charge players who seem to be everywhere on the field, yet they come at it in different ways. South Alabama senior Jake Johnson played two years at Virginia Tech, admits he got into weightlifting while watching professional wrestling as a kid, and plays with the savage power you would expect from a guy whose favorite NFL player is Jared Allen. His head coach, Joey Jones, calls him “a player I think will play in the NFL.” 'Nough said. On the other side, UTSA’s defensive soul starts with the less-heralded Steven Kurfehs (pronounced KERR-fis), a Division II transfer and Division I walk-on who earned a scholarship after that 2010 practice season. He proceeded to lead the Roadrunners in tackles through seven games last year before missing two games due to injury, although he was suspended for the final game of the year for a violation of team rules. A former safety, his speed and energy propel him from sideline to sideline, and head coach Larry Coker said he can play anywhere in Division I. Both teams have other excellent linebackers as well – Brandon Reeves for UTSA, Clifton Crews and Enrique Williams for South Alabama – but Johnson and Kurfehs are the guys who set the tone.

2. Eloquent centers
Each side sees its offense anchored by a true student-athlete at center. South Alabama’s Trey Clark has already graduated with a degree in exercise science (he is currently enrolled in a master’s program) and is the only Jaguar on the offensive side to start all 27 of the program’s games, dating back to 2009. UTSA sophomore Nate Leonard graduated third in his high-school class of more than 400 and readily employs appropriate metaphors when describing his search for Division I football in a must-read debut blog for the Huffington Post website. Snap counts should be in good hands with this duo.

3. Resilient kickers
Both South Alabama’s Michel Chapuseaux (pronounced Michael CHAP-uh-sew) and UTSA’s Sean Ianno (eye-AH-no), the latter from Pflugerville High School (where game sequences from ‘Friday Night Lights’ were filmed), played mostly soccer in high school, adding kicking duties in their junior and senior years, respectively. Yet they have already had to deal with plenty of adversity in their short football careers. In last year's meeting between the teams, Ianno lined up a 26-yard attempt for the win on the game's final play, only to see it blocked; Chapuseaux missed a field goal in the 2010 opener and has not attempted a competitive field goal since. Although both will surely say they have moved on, there will be a little extra pressure on each kick Thursday night this Saturday.

Weather permitting, of course.

Saturday afternoon's game will kick off at 2 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.

Rediscovering my own Friday-night lights

It took a true shot in the dark, but I discovered a long-lost gem of a broadcast last night, hearkening back to the Friday-night lights of my past.

I’ve spent a lot of time this month sending out feelers about broadcasting jobs in college sports for 2012-13. I have not, however, gotten a lot of responses. But I continue to work on my online demo page to try and impress potential employers.

My demo page had clips from a number of different sports, but there was no football. That’s a gaping hole when I want to be considered for college football broadcasts this year. I know football and do have experience calling it, but the only recordings I had were from my first year calling high school games, back in 2006, and they had a pretty significant hum from internet-only recordings.

I knew the best football game I’ve called came on a random Friday night in 2008, during my first year working for the Dynamo, when I was called to fill in on the game of the week for Houston’s ESPN affiliate at the time, 97.5 FM. I had always felt like that broadcast gave a much stronger representation of my football skills. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to get a recording of the game at the time and just assumed it didn’t exist.

So late last night, unable to sleep with a heightened sense of urgency to improve my demo page with some football, I went back and listened to a couple of those old games from 2006. I really didn’t feel good about sharing those as examples of my “best work,” so I dug a little deeper. The Texas Sports Radio Network had given me my first chances to broadcast high school football, and TSRN archives its games. I figured there was no way anything went that far back, especially because the ‘archive’ button on the website only took me to Houston high-school broadcasts from 2011-12.

This is where I got lucky. Because “/2011-12/” was included as part of the URL, I surmised that other years, though not linked anywhere on the site, might be available. So I replaced the 2011-12 with 2008-09, clicked ‘Football,’ and was presented with a list of games from 2008. I still worried that my broadcast, having been on real radio rather than simply an internet broadcast, would not be listed, but it was there!

Since each game had a link, presumably to a stream of the broadcast, I thought I had solved the problem. But the detective work wasn’t done. Clicking on the link brought me to an error page telling me the file did not exist. That stumped me for a bit, but I noted the URL that was not coming up and went back to compare it against the URLs from more recent archives that were still available. There were obvious differences, so I substituted the correct years and filename in the file path. After trying several different variations without success – I was getting tired of being told the file did not exist – I finally got a response, and an audio file started loading!

The file covered about eight hours, but luckily the main focus of it was a three-hour broadcast of the game between Dayton and C.E. King, with me on the play-by-play. What a relief! Listening to the game brought back some great memories of a crazy night at Crenshaw Memorial Stadium (pictured above) on the technical side and an impressive night on the football side. The game included Dayton quarterback Cody Green, who might be the starter at Tulsa this fall, and current UH hurdler Cameron LaCour, the brother of Nebraska track star Karyn LaCour, whom I profiled when I worked in Humble.

The trip down memory lane means I finally have some football clips I can send to potential employers to show them I can handle it, even if it is from four years ago.The full game is still available (be patient and allow the audio file to load, then drag ahead to the game action), and here’s the 14-minute clip on my demo page.

Some late-night industry and a little bit of luck, and maybe somebody will take a chance on me calling football games after all!