Week 2 College Football Preview: “You are looking live!”

By Fernie Ruano Jr.

One of the most distinguished play-by-play broadcasters ever, Brent Musburger, the man with the emotive, distinctive voice, responsible for giving an 8-year-old chubby kid, hiding under his pillow, a late-night introduction into sports with a hasty call of the 1979 NBA Finals, has done everything from the Little League World Series to the World Cup; the Final Four to the Super Bowl in over five decades.

Musburger has worked alongside a select group of analysis, including Dick Vermeil, Dick Vitale, Rick Barry, Jim Valvano and most recently, Kirk Herbstreit. If you were watching a big game in the late-1970’s, 80’s and 90’s,Musburger was probably looking over it and welcoming an entire nation with, “You are looking live at….”

And I was probably watching, too.

Musburger might have ruffled some feathers along the way, most notably with fans for his over-the-top calls and strong opinion over the years, including his bombastic deliveries anytime he did A University of Miami football game in the late-80’s and early-90’s. Most of my friends, all of which are UM fans, hated him. I love him; for his elation and opinionated style. There was nobody better, in my opinion.

                                                             "You are looking live..."

That’s why it will take a little getting used to whenever I get my college football-Saturday fix this season, now that Musburger has been relegated to SEC Network play-by-play duties with Chris Fowler taking over the role on ABC’s lead announcing team.

Sadly,  the announcer I grew up with and one I still consider to be one of the best will now be doing some middle-of-the-afternoon game in South Carolina on an a network that is still tough to find on the dial.

But the games must go on, with or without Brent..

#7 Michigan State at #3 Oregon 6:30 p.m., Fox: A Top-10 matchup in Eugene with serious title implications hanging in the balance. The Spartans will try to slow it down, while the Ducks and their Heisman Trophy candidate-QB will be gunning for the ‘zone at every opportunity. Best game of the week.

#13 Stanford at #14 USC 3:30 p.m., ABC: Here’s your first, Top-15 teams- conference game of the season. Stanford has taken down 17 straight opponents at home, but lost to USC last season. The Trojans had 701 yards of total offense last week, while Stanford’s defense allowed 115 in a Week 1 win. Something has to ….

Michigan at Notre Dame 7:30 p.m., NBC: This is it for the series after this one, at least for now. The home team has won three straight in the series and ND quarterback Everett Golson tore up Rice in Week 1, but facing Michigan in primetime is a different animal.