81,000 spectators. Memorial Stadium. Lincoln, Nebraska.
Turns out that I was probably hallucinating about the Georgia Tech vs. Boston College game. They indeed played each other tonight (GT loses15 to BC’s 21), but the game was broadcast on ESPN2 not ABC. I have no idea from where ABC came–I must’ve imagined it.
So, I watched the Nebraska Cornhuskers play against, and ultimately lose to, the USC Trojans. The Cornhuskers started the game off strong, keeping pace with USC on the scoreboard. In the top of the second, Nebraska’s field goal broke the 7 to 7 tie to give the Cornhuskers 10 points. But then just after the halfway point of the second quarter, USC fullback Stanley Havili made a touchdown, giving the Trojans 14 points. From that moment on, until the bottom of the fourth quarter, USC was touchdown galore. I’m not going to provide the scoring summary this time. Scroll down to find a link to all that good stuff.
As the ESPN commentators remarked, USC head coach Pete Carroll probably couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present.
Observations & other Miscellania:
1. Saturday Night Football on ESPN/ABC has its own opening song too? Pourquoi? Encore une fois, c’est absurd.
2. Will Ferrell was in attendance to support the Trojans. The camera even cut to him in a medium, extreme low angle shot after USC made a touchdown in the third quarter (thanks to tight end Anthony McCoy, I believe).
3. Supreme Court Justice Associate Clarence Thomas was there to support the Cornhuskers.
4. ESPN possibly incorporated more Skycam than NBC does for Sunday Night Football. The Skycam logo even appeared when there was an instant replay or still from behind the line of scrimmage. I suppose the producers wanted the viewers at home to know that the image didn’t come from a regular end zone camera. Speaking of the Skycam, there were a couple EA Sports clips of college football video games featuring the Cornhuskers. There was a sample from the 1996 edition and one of the more recent ones. The 96 clip looked exactly like what the Skycam does for real games in terms of capturing the image from that specific angle and in with that gliding, hovering motion. The commentators remarked that the 96 game restricted video game players to a few options with game-play but the newer one has adopted more plays. I noticed that its imagery was reminiscent of replays or football movie game-plays (on the field/sideline points-of-view).
5. Also in the fourth quarter, one of the commentators said something along the lines of: Ifs and Buts/Candy and Nuts/Everyday be Christmas.
6. No wonder a lot of football fans prefer the college game to the pro game–secondary text is so intense (that is, the spectators are so impassioned, expressive, and loud). From the Goodyear sky, the stands were an ocean of magenta.
7. I glanced at the ticker tape every now and then on the bottom of the screen. It appears that Demetrius Jones is no longer quarterback for Notre Dame.
8. Nebraska apparently has a kick-arse women’s volleyball team.
9. The 1st and Ten Line was present…so was the line of scrimmage, which was a teal color (which is aesthetically worse than CBS’s blue line of scrimmage). I don’t know about you, but having the 1st and Ten is fine. There’s no need for a line of scrimmage graphic.
I talk a lot about the Skycam and have neglected to provide a link to more information about it, so I will make a page devoted to the Skycam and any other terms that I’ve mentioned loads of times but haven’t explained. For now, click here.
For more information, game stats, and photos, click here.
