There is nothing like a weekend in New England to get you in the Thanksgiving holiday mood!  This past Saturday I called the North Carolina-Boston College game for ESPN radio and we had a good one. It didn’t start out that way, though, with the Tar Heels defense scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter after their offense had already put up seven points. It had the makings of a blowout, but the Eagles made a game of it. Ultimately, North Carolina put the game away with a late TD and won 31-13. There were ten turnovers in the contest, six by Boston College – and that brings me to my first point of the week. Do you know who Everett Withers is? Time’s up. He is the Tar Heels defensive coordinator and his troops have been a turnover machine the last few weeks. They have 12 interceptions in the last month and have scored a total of four touchdowns in the last two games.

Back in October North Carolina suffered a defensive collapse in a loss to Florida State. But they turned the season around the following Thursday night with a win at Virginia Tech. Withers’s game plan against Tyrod Taylor was superb and North Carolina has gone on to win four in a row after the debacle against the Seminoles. Everett Withers is a big reason why.

One more note on the Tar Heels. They need to get jacked up when they face NC State.  The Wolfpack treat this like the game of the year and have proven it on the field. Last year I called this game for TV and when I talked with the NC State coaches before the contest you could tell that, for them, this was like Clemson vs South Carolina, Michigan-Ohio State, Auburn and Alabama. The Tar Heels acted like it was just another day at the office. Not that they didn’t care, but it was just another game, or so it seemed to me.

Here are a couple of funny quotes from our meeting with the BC players on the Friday before the contest with North Carolina.  Mike McLaughlin is the Eagles middle linebacker. The senior told us that in last year’s game at North Carolina, Tar Heel wide receiver Hakeem Nicks “wrote his NFL contract on my back”.  Nicks, now a rookie with the New York Giants, caught three TD passes and ran for a fourth in the North Carolina victory.

BC quarterback Dave Shinskie, a 25 year old freshman, talked about working with 69 year old offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill. Tranquill was on Woody Hayes staff at Ohio State in the late 60s and has also coached for Bill Belichick and Nick Saban, among others.  Shinskie said Tranquill read a poem at a team meeting the day before about the “Mighty Casey”.  Of course the poem ends with “there is no joy in Mudville, because the mighty Casey struck out.”  Shinskie then looked at us and said, “Why would a dude write a poem about a guy who choked?”  We had no answer.

As you give thanks this weekend and spend time with family and friends, please say a prayer for two staffers from NC State. Dana Bible, the offensive coordinator for the football team, is battling leukemia and Gary Hahn, the long time “Voice of the Wolfpack,” is fighting prostate cancer. May they be back on the sidelines and in the broadcast booth soon.

I’ve got a double header this weekend for ESPN Radio: Auburn hosts Alabama on Friday and USC faces UCLA on Saturday.  Check your local listings.  Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Now that I am doing play by play for only college football and not the NFL, a lot of people ask me which level of the game I prefer broadcasting. This is the first time in 20 years I am not doing the NFL either for a team or network and the first time its college football only since 1987.  So, I have put together a list of the differences and my feelings about broadcasting college football and the NFL.

1. Game preparation is about the same, but NFL teams are limited to 53 man rosters and only 46 players dress on game day. College football rosters are larger, so it is more time consuming putting together a spotting board for each team and familiarizing yourself with the players that will touch the ball.  For example, in the NFL, a team might dress three or four wide receivers, seven offensive linemen, two or three running backs and maybe two tight ends. In college football, there could be seven or eight wide receivers, five or six running backs, three or four tight ends and up to 12 offensive lineman. As a broadcaster, it helps to see a team a few times – that really helped when I called last Saturday’s meeting between Miami (I had already done four Miami games) and Clemson (one previous contest).

2. Rules are basically the same, but the NFL could take a cue from the college game and change the way it plays overtime. In the college game, both teams get the ball; in the NFL, if you win the toss, take the kick and score, the game is over.  I would like to see the NFL at least give the other team a shot at scoring if the team that first has the ball does get points. The college game is way too long, usually three hours and forty-five minutes or more. The best way to speed things up would be to get rid of the rule that stops the clock to move the chains after a first down. Halftimes are 20 minutes, and I think this time length was established years ago to give both schools’ bands a chance to perform. I would cut it to 15 minutes.  The NFL has a 12 minute halftime.

3. Travel is easier in the NFL because you are going to major cities with plenty of hotel space, restaurants, and highways to get you to and from the stadium in a decent amount of time. If you have ever tried to get out of Clemson after a game, you know why I mention this. I sat for two hours in my car in the parking lot on Labor Day night a couple years ago after a Tiger home game before even getting out to the local streets around the stadium. 

4. Atmosphere is different and there seems to be more passion with college football fans. I think this is because while the players change each year, there are the alumni ties to the school that will never change. There are some NFL fans that have this type of passion, including those in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

5. When I call a college football game, I don’t criticize the players much because they are still students. In the NFL, they are getting paid very good money, and if they drop passes or throw interceptions, they deserve to get pounded by the media. Coaches are fair game at both levels as far as I am concerned.

There you have it – what I consider a few key differences in broadcasting college and pro football.

-Bill Rosinski

Since the start of the season, I have broadcast three Georgia Tech football games: the thriller against Clemson, their loss at Miami and this past weekend’s huge win over Virginia Tech. In the process of covering these games, I have heard and read a number of comments about the spread option offense run by Jackets’ head coach Paul Johnson and the predictions of its long term success in “the Flats”.  The biggest concern I’ve heard voiced is the ability to recruit top players at just about any position on the offensive side of the ball. Right now Johnson is doing it with players who arrived under the Chan Gailey regime.  Would quarterback Josh Nesbitt, running back Jonathan Dwyer and wide receiver Damaryius Thomas have committed to Georgia Tech knowing that they would be put in a wishbone type run-oriented offense?

Johnson has been successful running this type of offense at Georgia Southern and Navy.  The critics wonder if he can do it on a consistent basis in the ACC. Let’s face it, top quality high school athletes go to college with hopes of making it to the NFL. In talking with NFL scouts, they say it is difficult to judge how good offensive linemen are in a wishbone offense because they rarely pass block. Wide receivers might shun going to Atlanta because the Jackets don’t throw it very often and, since they don’t throw it very often, quarterbacks who think they have what it takes to play on Sunday (NFL) would be hard pressed to prove it in the wishbone. There just aren’t many schools that run the type of offense that Georgia Tech runs and you don’t see it at all in the NFL.

This brings me back to my initial question: how successful will Paul Johnson be in the long term? I don’t have the answer, no one does at this point, and it will come down to Johnson’s ability to recruit top quality players to compete against top ranked teams year in and year out.

I give Georgia Tech credit for not scheduling a “cupcake” for homecoming. Virginia Tech was ranked fourth in the country as they came to Atlanta last week. Check out my video blog this week for the sights and sounds of some of the pre-game festivities.

In wrapping up our broadcast last week, I was talking about Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Miami all having one loss as they battle for the Coastal Division title – and then quickly reminded our listeners that Virginia is 2-0 in the ACC.  Al Groh has quieted the critics and can get everyone’s attention if his team can beat the Yellow Jackets this weekend.

The wild and wacky Atlantic division has four teams with two losses; the other two with three losses and all still have shot at getting to the ACC title game.

This Saturday I am off to Miami for the Canes game against Clemson for ESPN Radio. Check your local listings.

-Bill Rosinski

The 2nd set of winners is in! These lucky folks commented on Raycom Sports’ blogs over the last few weeks and have each won an Original Retro Brand Tee.  Congratulations!

THE WINNERS ARE:

John F
Keoki
Michael
blpack90
dcreilly
Tiki
emily
joseph graham
Todd
jacalcio18
All About Sports
Hartwell Tiger
Jesse Thames
Triple C

What’s up and welcome to another edition of WKWG!

If you want to see my thoughts on the ACC teams 1-12, check out my ACC Power Poll.

Week 6 of ACC Games: What Knowledge We’ve Gained

*The contenders have been narrowed. Here’s the current ACC standings and I’ll give who  I think can win…

(Per the ACC)

Mark it down (right now), for the Coastal (in order of how I think they will finish): Miami, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech.

They should end up tied at the end of the season which brings out the calculators for tiebreakers. If it falls to the BCS tiebreaker of who is ranked highest and is not within 5 spots of a team that beat them, Miami takes the cake. They will go undefeated and should be five spots higher than Virginia Tech at the end of the season as that would be their one hang up.

For the Atlantic (in order of how the coin toss worked out): Clemson, Boston College.

I think Clemson goes 5-3 in the ACC. Barring an amazing performance or poor on Miami’s part, Clemson should lose in Land Shark, but they have an easy last 3 ACC games. For BC, they have an easy road too, but from what I’ve seen, I just cannot see BC winning all three games–just not consistent enough for my taste and have not played well on the road at all. Now, you can say that about Clemson too–thus, the coin toss.

***Quick Slants***

*Clemson showed up when they needed too Saturday on Raycom. The Tigers’ defense dominated–and with that kind of performance, there are not many teams that could beat them.

*Wake Forest is done in the Atlantic with losing tiebreakers to the big two in the division. They could get in a Coastal-like three way tie, but probably would not fare well there either.

*BC’s Montel Harris is a beast that should be constantly fed in the Eagles’ remaining 5 games.

*NC State cannot play defense at all. They would be just as good just rolling Russell Wilson out there with his RBs/WRs on defense so they might have a better chance to score defensively.

*I know, I know, where are the ‘Hoos?! I give them props for the wins–hey, they are undefeated, but can anybody tell me from that Maryland game that they are serious contenders? Absolutely no way, but I applaud how they have recovered from the tough start.

*Maryland just is not good.

*We will learn something about the soul of the Tar Heels and ‘Noles this Thursday–neither team has an ACC win and one win probably will not alter a course to a bowl-less season either.

What do you think about the ACC at this point? Leave a comment with your thoughts…