College Football Rankings: The Worst TV Announcers of 2010
The growth of television coverage in college football throughout the last 20 years has provided a greater opportunity for more epic fails in broadcasting.
With a motley crew of former college football stars ranging from Warrick Dunn to Eric Crouch simply handed jobs as analysts, things are bound to be a bit rocky.
At the same time, the new infusion of talent in the broadcasting ranks can't really do much more harm. Let's be honest with ourselves and just say it; the state of television broadcasting is already beyond repair.
Here's a look at 20 of the worst announcers in college football this season.
No. 20: John Saunders
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As studio hosts go, John Saunders is about as boring as it gets.
The veteran broadcaster clearly knows sports, but he hasn't really given any indication that he knows a great deal about the game is covering on Saturdays.
With ABC's halftime show about as bad as it gets, Saunders doesn't have much of a forum in which to display his college football knowledge.
That's probably a good thing for his sake.
No. 19: Trevor Matich
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In addition to literally having the quite possibly the biggest head in the world outside of Bruce Bochy, Matich is an absolute meatball who has never demonstrated a great deal of college football knowledge in his studio work.
The former BYU offensive lineman appears to be ESPN's answer to FOX's giant, dumb NFL analysts. Matich follows the script and doesn't have any grasp of teams outside the top 25.
Time to change the channel.
No. 18: Mike Patrick
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Mike Patrick is a very emotionally unstable announcer capable of getting overly excited and extremely irritated by random things.
Patrick is teaming with Craig James this season, which figures to make for more exciting moments in the booth and plenty of random remarks.
It's hard to imagine anything better than the gem he uttered in 2007, when he broke up a perfectly good broadcast of an Alabama-Georgia game by uttering, "Britney Spears. What is she doing with her life?"
Let's keep those weird op-eds to yourself, play-by-play man.
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No. 17: Chris Spielman
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Back when he was teamed with Pam Ward, Chris Spielman was a breath of fresh air to frustrated viewers of mediocre Big Ten games.
Now that he has freed himself from Ward, Spielman's tough-guy act and strange sense of humor is much less enjoyable.
Since he will be working as part of ABC/ESPN's odd three-man team of Dave Pasch and Bob Griese this season, his act might slowly become appealing once again.
No. 16: Mike Tirico (The Angry Version)
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Mike Tirico is normally a solid play-by-play guy, but much like Mike Patrick he likes to use his position in front of the camera to editorialize.
Mike's rants are usually few and far between, but he seems to always have a few college football broadcasts where he is constantly crabby.
You have an awesome job Mike, just call the game and enjoy doing it.
No. 15: Thom Brennaman
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Thom Brennaman has a very small sample size, but he is clearly one of the more annoying college football announcers there is. Blame FOX's contract with the BCS for this one.
The Sugar Bowl telecast between Florida and Cincinnati wasn't very exciting to watch and was horrible to listen to. Brennaman seemed to be calling the game under the assumption that viewers had never seen either team play.
He also called the game like he had a huge man-crush on Tim Tebow. Talk about taking hype to a whole new extreme.
No. 14: Gary Danielson
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Good ole' Gary has a lot to deal with as he enters another season teamed with Verne Lundquist.
The 2009 SEC Championship game was without question one of the worst telecasts in recent memory, filled with baffling mistakes that made it seem neither announcer was actually watching the game live or had done any prep work whatsoever.
It's not like Florida and Alabama are relative unknowns in the SEC.
No. 13: Jesse Palmer
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It might be hard to not be jealous of Jesse Palmer's looks and success with the ladies, but it isn't hard to be jealous of his football knowledge.
The Bachelor has risen through the ranks despite a his lack of experience and is now all over ESPN imparting his undereducated college football knowledge on faithful viewers.
It doesn't seem to be that hard to be a decent studio analyst or color guy, but Palmer hasn't pulled it off quite yet.
No. 12: Todd McShay
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ESPN's apprentice to Mel Kiper has a puzzling eye for talent.
At the beginning of last season, McShay anointed Ole Miss star Jevan Snead as the best quarterback in the country.
Despite an underwhelming junior season, Snead decided to turn pro and went undrafted. McShay's constant campaigning made both men look like idiots.
Another example of McShay's inadequate knowledge was his love of weak-armed Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson, who hasn't made any impact at the NFL level.
Kiper might be really annoying, but at least he isn't really dumb too.
No. 11: Craig James
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The former SMU running back has strong opinions but lacks the knowledge to back them up.
James helped Texas Tech coach Mike Leach into broadcasting after his comments over the treatment of his son thrust the Red Raider program into the spotlight.
Other than that, James hasn't accomplished much during his broadcasting career.
No. 10: Petros Papadakis
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Aside from his grating voice, Papadakis isn't horribly incompetent.
The worst thing about his color skills is his undying love of USC and his relative fishbowl mentality of college football. If it's not the Pac-10, he doesn't know it.
In this day and age, Papadakis certainly the only college football analyst with a limited scope of knowledge. But that voice!
No. 9: Brent Musburger
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Traditionalists love Musburger, but his act has started to wear a little thin.
He tends to go overboard on enthusiasm and make big deals out of random human interest stories loosely associated with the game.
The bigger the stage, the more annoying he gets.
"Buckeyes!"
No. 8: Bob Griese
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Bob Griese doesn't know a great deal about teams aside from Michigan, Ohio State, or Penn State. But he does know Juan Pablo Montoya likes tacos. Go figure.
Griese's idiotic attempt at being funny last year got him suspended. Sadly, it didn't cost him his job.
The good news for viewers is that there will probably be another color commentator duo worse than the Bob Griese-Paul Maguire pairing of recent years.
Maybe things are starting to look up...
No. 7: Brian Griese
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And then, things come crashing down again as Brian Griese works his way up ESPN's ladder.
Like his father, Brian Griese has yet to demonstrate any unique knowledge of the sport he is paid to cover and appears to be vastly under qualified to occupy his spot on the television.
There's nothing like some good ole' fashioned nepotism.
No. 6: Mark Jones
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Mark Jones knows his stuff, but he just needs to stop using those damn big words.
It's not that college football fans can't handle or follow along with his lovely metaphors, it's simply not the place for a person in Jones' position to show off his comprehension of the English language.
Just call the game as you see it on the field, Mr. Jones.
No. 5: Mike Leach
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In all fairness to Mike Leach, he could become a great announcer. His career is still young, and he certainly knows football.
But his track record of saying idiotic things might never allow him to move up from CBS College Sports.
Time will tell if Leach can hide his inner Charles Barkley and say the right things without hurting anybody's feelings.
No. 4: Verne Lundquist
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Don't be afraid to say it; Lundquist is simply over the hill. Way, way over the hill.
His awareness level has declined in recent years, and he appears poised to follow in the footsteps of Keith Jackson and hang on for a little bit too long.
CBS is likely to let its lead announcer walk away on his own terms. At least SEC fans are probably getting used to his slip-ups by now.
No. 3: Lou Holtz
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Get that applesauce out of your mouth Dr. Lou!
Holtz obviously knows his stuff, which is a rarity among ESPN studio analysts. At the same time, his act has become tiresome to college football fans.
His spit-spewing rants and analysis doesn't carry nearly as much weight as it used to.
I wonder who he will pick to win tomorrow's Michigan-Notre Dame contest?
No. 2: Desmond Howard
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Desmond Howard's Heisman pose has gotten him so far in life. It's simply incredible.
The Michigan man has become a regular analyst on ESPN's College Gameday, forcing viewers to receive even more useless knowledge on Saturdays.
There's no question he has improved since he began his broadcasting career. That said, he still doesn't belong anywhere near the spotlight.
No. 1: Pam Ward
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Pam Ward has gotten very famous by being a very awful announcer.
First of all, her grating voice is extremely annoying. Thankfully, she rarely has any knowledgeable thoughts anyway, so viewers can leave their televisions on mute.
Second of all, Ward's status on the ESPN ladder usually hides her from marquee games. That means a boring game that won't be fun to watch, especially for viewers who aren't fans of either of the teams involved.
Tomorrow's "Pam Ward game" features Kent State and Boston College. Unless you cheer for the Golden Flashes or the Golden Eagles, don't bother tuning into ESPNU.
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