Two conferences will have their inaugural title games this weekend, and Fox will be covering both championships. Oregon will host UCLA on Friday with the Pac-12 title on the line, and Michigan State will face Wisconsin in Indianapolis on Saturday for the Big Ten championship.
Gus Johnson and Charles Davis will be calling both games, and the broadcast team discussed the matchups.
Tell me about the Big Ten championship game.
Davis » “In its first year it is already a big success with a full house headed to Indy. There is no question that the most successful title game in college football is the SEC championship. They hold it in Atlanta, and it is sold out almost a year in advance, and no one cares who is in the game. The Big Ten used the SEC template. They put the game in Indianapolis for the next five years knowing that it will sell out.”
Why didn’t the Pac-12 use a neutral site for its championship game?
Davis » “The Pac-12 is not a driving conference, yet it’s one of the most perfectly modeled travel conferences. Unlike the SEC and the Big Ten, where you can pretty much get where you need to get to by hopping in the car, that’s not easily done in the Pac-12. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and his conference did a great job in deciding early on to put it at home sites because atmosphere is what makes a championship game, too. We’ll have that championship feel on Friday night. And remember, the team that’s hosting has earned that opportunity.”
What will it be like calling championship games on back-to-back days?
Johnson » “It’ll be fun. This is an exciting time of year. We’re honored to be the team that broadcasts these two back-to-back championships during their inaugural seasons on Fox Sports. There have been times this year and in the past where I’ve done a college football game on a Saturday and an NFL game on a Sunday. That happened to me this year with Iowa State-Texas. Charles and I did that game, and then we got in a car and drove to Kansas City and did Chiefs-Vikings.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!, on washingtonexaminer.com.
