Well, Saturday certainly turned out to be a crummy TV-viewing day for local college football fans, didn't it? Just when you thought a game couldn't look worse than Utah's loss to pathetic Tulsa on KJZZ-Ch. 14, along came BYU's loss to anemic UTEP on KSL-Ch. 5.
Maybe somebody ought to have broadcast the Utah State-Boise State game. Not only was it the most exciting of the day, but the Aggies were the only 1-A team in the state to win on Saturday.Nah . . . never happen.
VERY QUESTIONABLE: Perhaps the most bizarre comment by a local TV sportscaster on Saturday came from the Blue and White Network's Randy Rosenbloom, who told viewers that there is "no question . . . that the WAC has improved."
This came with about three minutes left in the first half of the BYU-UTEP game, with the Cougars trailing 7-3 in a contest in which neither team demonstrated much football prowess.
Rosenbloom was right when he said, "You can't take anything for granted in the WAC anymore." BYU's loss to UTEP, Utah's loss to Tulsa and Rice's loss to SMU clearly demonstrated that.
But to equate parity with improvement is lunacy.
The 16 WAC football teams have a combined 24-28 record against non-conference foes - which is exactly where the league finished last season. But this year's numbers are actually worse than they appear.
The WAC is 7-0 against 1-AA teams, thus only 17-28 against 1-A teams. The WAC is 8-2 against the weak Big West, thus only 10-26 against non-Big West, non-1-AA teams. (Big West member Idaho is a 1-AA team.)
Last year at this time, BYU and Wyoming were both ranked in the top 15. Right now, there is not a single WAC team in the rankings. The WAC is a combined 1-7 against teams currently ranked by either the AP or ESPN/USA Today. (BYU's win over Arizona State is the sole breakthrough.)
There's no evidence that the WAC has improved. There's a good deal of evidence that it's weaker than last year.
The only question is how Rosenbloom could arrive at the conclusion that there's "no question" the league is "improved."
HE SAID IT: When Kevin Dyson broke the Utah record for career receptions on Saturday, KJZZ sideline reporter Eddie Johnson interviewed KALL-radio sideline reporter Brian Rowley, the previous record holder.
It wasn't much of a little interview, but you had to love it when play-by-play man Steve Brown commented that "It's too bad (Rowley) played all those years without a helmet."
If you've ever listened to Rowley on the radio, you'd almost think that was true.
COLORFUL: KJZZ's color commentator Mike Norseth is definitely growing on me. His comments are generally on the mark, and he's outgrowing an earlier tendency he had to talk whether he had anything to say or not.
As for the Blue and White Network's Blaine Fowler over on KSL, he's become a steady performer game in and game out. The fact is that he's not prone to making big errors - a definite plus for any sportscaster.
WHERE'S THE PERSPECTIVE? After the conclusion of the BYU-UTEP game, sideline reporter Holly Rowe referred to the Miners' 14-3 victory as the "biggest win in UTEP history."
It doesn't take much of a memory to recall that this event wasn't the biggest UTEP win over BYU in history - you can't compare it to the 1985 game when the then-winless Miners knocked off the defending national champion Cougars, who were ranked in the top 10 at the time.