Did ABC Gloss Over Possibility Of Saban Running Up Score Late In Game?
OFF THE MARK: In Albany, Pete Dougherty writes there “wasn’t a lot to criticize about ABC’s coverage,” except for “one major point at the end of the game.” Alabama intercepted Texas with less than two minutes remaining and up by 10 points, and “most compassionate coaches would have taken a knee.” Alabama coach Nick Saban “basically ran up the score,” but Musburger and analyst Kirk Herbstreit “ignored the stunt and continued to praise Saban” (TIMESUNION.com, 1/8). In San Diego, Jay Posner writes when viewers saw Jackson during pregame, “tell me you didn’t think, ‘Quick, get Keith up to the booth and send Brent Musburger home.” Musburger’s “overdramatization of, well, everything, is hard to take,” and his attempt to “put a play in perspective failed immediately last night when he called Nick Saban’s early fake punt a ‘Belichick move'” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/8). In Ft. Worth, Garza & Burch write Musburger’s “favorite term Thursday night for a running back getting stuffed was ‘stoned’
