John Clay’s Sidelines

Dave Neal

The Media Approval Ratings continue today with Dave Neal, the play-by-play half of the SEC Network. Dave is a holdover from the Dave-Dave-Dave trio of the Jefferson Pilot/Lincoln Financial/Raycom SEC Network days. When ESPN bought the contract, it decided to keep Neal, while bringing in Andre Ware as color commentator. Dave is the son of Bob Neal, who at one time did play-by-play on the SEC TV Network.

So what say you on Dave Neal, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Andre Ware - Chris Fowler - Lee Corso - Bob Davie - Gary Danielson - Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

Andre Ware

We’re going to crank the MARs back up. (Don’t worry, we’ll get to we writers soon, promise.) With the Cats back on the SEC Network for Saturday’s football game at Vanderbilt, time to judge the network’s color analyst, former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Andre Ware.

What say you on Andre, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Chris Fowler - Lee Corso - Bob Davie - Gary Danielson - Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

Chris Fowler

The MAR returns today with another of the College GameDay group, Chris Fowler. The studio host on Saturday and play-by-play man on Thursday nights is one of the few duel-threats at ESPN.

So what say you on Chris Fowler, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Lee Corso - Bob Davie - Gary Danielson - Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

Lee Corso

We’re back to our Media Approval Ratings. Sorry for the lapse. We’ll pick back up with ESPN College GameDay analyst/headress-model Lee Corso, the former Louisville and Indiana football coach.

What say you on Lee Corso, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Bob Davie - Gary Danielson - Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

If you watched Alabama’s 35-7 win over Arkansas last Saturday, you may have heard CBS color man Gary Danielson make an interesting comment about the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback, Greg McElroy.

Halfway through the third quarter, here was the interplay between Danielson and play-by-play man Verne Lundquist:

Danielson: “You know who McElroy reminds me of? Kyle Macy, the old point guard.

Lundquist: “For Kentucky.”

Danielson: “He never looked like he was in a hurry. Just distribute the ball to all his good players. Nothing looks fancy. You kind of never got wowed by the guy. Nothing stoods out. He never did anything fancy with the ball, just passed it to the open guy and just make the play. That’s how McElroy gets you, just distributes the ball all around the field and makes the play. He never wows you with any one throw.”

When Alabama scored on a 14-yard pass from McElroy to Mark Ingram, Danielson returned to the comparison:

Danielson: “Kyle Macy. You gotta hit the open shot. You give him the free throw and he hits the open shot. There it is.”

As it happens, Danielson was a star quarterback at Purdue, graduating in 1973. A year later, Macy enrolled at Purdue and played his sophomore season there, 1975-76. He came to UK in 1976, sitting out the 1976-77 season, then was the starting point guard on UK’s national title team of 1978.

And McElroy will lead the third-ranked Crimson Tide into Commonwealth to play Kentucky on Saturday.

(AP Photo/Andrew Cutraro)

Media Approval Ratings returns with Bob Davie, the ex-Notre Dame coach who will be doing the color for ESPN2 on the Kentucky-Florida game Saturday night. The handsome Davie will be teamed with is regular partner, Mark Jones.

So what say you on Bob Davie, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Gary Danielson - Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

Gary Danielson

With the Tennessee-Florida expected Lane Kiffin bloodbath being the game that kicks off CBS’ SEC schedule, Media Approval Ratings locks in on Gary Danielson, the former Purdue and Detroit Lions’ quarterback who is the color man for CBS’ broadcasts.

What say you on Gary Danielson, thumbs up or thumbs down?

Previously: Brent Musburger - Kirk Herbstreit - Todd Blackledge - Brandon Fisher - Brent Carney - Dan Rieffer - Rob Bromley - Alan Cutler - Kent Spencer - Dave Baker - Mary Jo Perino - Mike Cameron - Chris Cross - Dick Gabriel - Larry Glover.

Feel sorry for Dicky Lyons, Jr., cut so soon by the Atlanta Falcons.

So with 30 days left until UK’s football opener against Miami of Ohio at Paul Brown Stadium, we present an oldie but a goodie.

“He got hit so bad.” - Gary Danielson

Chris Rainey

I’ve caught some grief for picking Florida to whip up on UK 35-7 Saturday. Skeptics say I should have more faith in the UK defense. And I do, to a point. Kentucky’s defense is much-improved over most any other recent year you could mention. Kentucky’s pass defense is terrific, statistically among the top five in the nation. But the run defense, less so.

Alabama rushed for 282 yards in the Tide’s 17-14 win over Kentucky in Tuscaloosa back on Oct. 4. The Tide averaged 5.8 yards per tote. Arkansas rushed for 236 yards last Saturday on the way to building, then blowing a 17-0 lead. The Razorbacks averaged 4.6 yards per carry.

As sage CBS analyst Gary Danielson mentioned during the Florida-LSU telecast, Florida appeared to stumble onto something in the fourth quarter of the Gators’ 38-7 win at Arkansas. Offensive boss Dan Mullen started giving the ball to his dynamic duo of Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey. Each player rushed for 103 yards against the Razorbacks. That’s each player. Demps followed that with a 129-yard effort in UF’s 51-21 thumping of LSU. It was the first time since Neal Anderson in 1982 that a Florida freshman had rushed for back-to-back 100-yard games.

Continue reading ‘Why Florida isn’t a good matchup for Cats’

Over on Tom Leach’s blog, the voice of the Cats posted an interview with Gary Danielson after the CBS analyst had done the Kentucky-Alabama game last Saturday.

You can listen to the interview here.