Houston’s rise under Herman catches national TV spotlight
Guess what, University of Houston fans: Mack Brown is rooting for your head coach, too.
Brown, the former Texas Longhorns coach who is now working as a game and studio analyst for ESPN, takes understandable pleasure in the exploits of Tom Herman, a former graduate assistant at Texas, and who employs former Texas players Major Applewhite and Oscar Giles as assistant coach.
“I’m really, really proud of those guys,” Brown said this week. “They’ve done so well. They’ve beaten Louisville on the road. They’ve beaten Vanderbilt at home. But they’re sitting here with a difficult finish, too. You’ve got Cincinnati, you’ve got Memphis, you’ve got Connecticut and you’ve got Navy.
“All of us know that Navy is one of those games that you better come ready to play because they can beat you for sure. But I think Houston-Memphis, especially if both come in undefeated, will be one of the games that everybody in the country will look at.”
Analyst Todd Blackledge, as has been the case with several on-air personalities this year, also measures Herman’s impact by the difference this year in Ohio State’s offense from last year, when Herman was offensive coordinator for the eventual national champions.
“I’m not saying that all of the struggles or some of the issues that Ohio State’s offense has had this year are the result of him not being there,” Blackledge said. “… Not only was (Herman) an excellent playcaller for a young coach, but his ability to manage the egos in that quarterback room a year ago and direct three different guys as the leader of that position, that team, pretty amazing what he did.”
ESPN2 has the Cougars for the second weekend in a row as they play Cincinnati at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
And, for UH fans who are constantly trying to measure the program’s growth by Nielsen ratings as by wins and losses, it does bear noting that the Cougars’ game last Saturday on ESPN2 outrated in Houston the Longhorns’ shutout loss to Iowa State, with a 2.2 rating on ESPN2 to 2.1 for the Longhorns and Cyclones on Fox Sports 1.
Big 12 winner should be OK
Despite the relatively low ranking in the opening College Football Playoff poll for Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State, Mack Brown and Todd Blackledge believe an unbeaten Big 12 champion will make the fourteam playoff field.
“All those teams are going to be playing each other here down the stretch, and I think the whole college football world will be paying attention to that,” Blackledge said.
“I don’t think what happened last year will necessarily factor in in a direct way, but I do have to believe with human beings involved and knowing that Baylor and TCU both had a pretty rightful claim to being one of those four teams last year and neither one of them got it, I just think that’s in the back of people’s minds.”
College football ratings
Here are local college football Nielsen ratings from last weekend in Houston. Ratings aare not available for all networks, including the SEC Network, Longhorn Network and CBS College Sports, and for ESPN3 com games. Each point represents 23,373 TV households in Houston Oklahoma-Texas Tech, ESPN, 3.8; Notre Dame-Temple, Ch.13, 3.2; Ole Miss-Auburn, ESPN, 2.5; Syracuse- Florida State, Ch. 1.3, 2.5; Vanderbilt Houston, ESPN2, 2.2; Texas-Iowa 2 State, FS1, 2.1; Florida- Georgia, Ch. 11, 2.0; Clemson-North Carolina State, Ch. 13, 1.8; West Virginia TCU, FS1, 1.3; Michigan- Minnesota ESPN, 1.1. Also, Stanford-Washington State.
ESPN, 1.1; Louisiana Tech-Rice, FS1, 0.7; Oklahoma-Kansas, FS1, 0.6; Oregon-Arizona State, ESPN, 0.5; North Carolina-Pittsburgh, ESPN, 0.4; Illinois-Penn State, ESPN2, 0.4; Nebraska-Purdue, ESPNU, 0.3; Wyoming-Utah State, ESPN2, 0.3; Arizona-Washington, FS1, 0.2; Boise State-UNLV, ESPNU, 0.2.
Also, Louisville-Wake Forest, ESPN2, 0.2; Texas State-Georgia Southern, ESPNU, 0.1; East Carolina-Connecticut, ESPNU, 0.1.
Four DVRs, no waiting
After the Division Series, Houston clearly wanted nothing more to do with the Royals. KRIV (Channel 26) averaged a 5.3 Nielsen rating for the World Series between the Royals and Mets, ranking 55th among the 56 major markets. Only Knoxville was lower at 5.2. … Fox took in more than $100 million in revenue Sunday with its NFL tripleheader, including a London game, and World Series Game 5, company CEO James Murdoch said on an earnings call this week. … Paul Brown is the subject of the next episode of NFL Network’s “A Football Life” series at 8 p.m. Friday. … ESPN’s next documentary is “Chasing Tyson,” on the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fights, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10. … ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on the first College Football Playoff poll: “I had Baylor No. 1. I realize the schedule has been pathetic, but I look at it, I watch it and from my eyes they look like the best team in the country. I also have a problem with Alabama being in the Top 4. … I don’t think they should be in the Top 4 till they play LSU in Tuscaloosa.” Kirk Herbstreit on the same topic: “The one thing we all have to say about Baylor: No matter who they have played, the game is over at halftime.” … CBS Sports analyst Phil Simms on the NFC East: “What do I make of the NFC East? Look, we don’t have the time. I don’t know where to go. All four teams need to lay down on the couch and get analyzed.”