Mel Bracht, Sports Media

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Analyst advises Peterson
In the booth

By Mel Bracht
Published: October 13, 2006

FSN college football analyst Dave Lapham offers some advice to Adrian Peterson as the Oklahoma running back prepares to play in the first game his father, Nelson, has attended since he was 12:

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Don't get too hyped up.

"You have to be careful that you're not overly excited and try to do too much," said Lapham, who will call the Iowa State-OU game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday with play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers and sideline reporter Jim Knox. "You have to pull in the reigns a little bit emotionally and stay in control. It's going to be tough. That's going to be a very, very emotional day for him for a lot of reasons."

FSN plans to air an interview with Peterson and his father, who is living in an Oklahoma City halfway house after serving an eight-year prison term, on the national telecast (Cox 37 and 740, HD).

Although Lapham said Peterson's chances of winning Oklahoma's fifth Heisman Trophy are slipping, he doesn't think they are over.

"When you're averaging 150 yards a game against the competition he plays against, I think he definitely has a shot," Lapham said. "Obviously, Troy Smith, if Ohio State remains No. 1 and he runs the table against the competition in the Big Ten and has big games in so doing, it might be tough (for Peterson)."

Facing a porous Cyclone defense that ranks last in the Big 12 in rushing defense might help Peterson rekindle his Heisman campaign.

"I'm sure Adrian Peterson is drooling, and Coach (Kevin) Wilson is drooling to run the football and get that established," he said. "It also will be easier to throw the football."

Lapham, a former Syracuse and Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman who also is the analyst on the Bengals radio network, expects the No. 23-ranked Sooners will shake off a hangover from the 28-10 loss to Texas.

"You can't allow one bad game to become two," he said. "I think that Coach (Bob) Stoops is pretty good at getting that message across. I think when you play a team as good as Texas, you can't make the mistakes that they made — 11 penalties and five turnovers. If they do that against Iowa State, they're going to struggle."

As for Iowa State, 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference, Lapham said they will need a balanced offense against OU.

"If Oklahoma can make them one-dimensional, I think it will be tough for them," he said. "The thing they are doing this year that they didn't do last year, they're getting (quarterback) Bret Meyer more involved in the running game.

"Defensively, I think they have to understand that Peterson is going to get his 150, even 200 yards, but you can't let other people, the supporting cast step up. Paul Thompson can't have a big game throwing to Malcolm Kelly. You have to defend everything else."

Media notebook

New BCS shows

To supplement Fox Sports' coverage of the Bowl Media Media notebook

Championship Series in January, FSN Southwest (Cox 37) is introducing two new weekly BCS shows. "BCS Breakdown," 6 p.m. Friday, will preview weekend matchups that could determine the teams that ultimately will play in the five BCS games. "The Official BCS Ratings Show," 8:30 p.m. Sunday, analyzes the weekly BCS rankings, which will be released Sunday for the first time during Fox's NFL coverage.

HD disputes
KOCO-5, which recently pulled its high definition channel off Cox Communications, isn't the only local channel having a dispute with Cox over HD channels. KOKH-25, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, also has failed to reach an agreement to allow its HD channel to air on Cox.

KOKH general manager John Rossi said Sinclair made a written offer to Cox in June 2005 and pulled that offer in July 2006 after it failed to receive any response from Cox.

Dave Bialis, Cox Oklahoma president, said Sinclair has turned down several offers by Cox. He said KOCO and KOKH are seeking subscriber rights fees for the rights to carry the channels.

A family affair
Thom Brennaman is leaving his job as an Arizona Diamondback broadcaster to join his father, Marty, in the Cincinnati Reds' broadcast booth. Thom Brennaman, 43, has signed a four-year deal that calls for him to work about 90 games next season with his father on radio, and also do some televised games on FSN Ohio. That arrangement will allow him to continue to call Saturday games for Fox Sports.

"This is a dream fulfilled for me," said Marty Brennaman, who has called Reds games since 1974.

Notebook
  • For a second year, ESPNU (DirecTV 609) will tip off the college basketball season tonight with three one-hour specials of "Midnight Madness" coverage — North Carolina, 9:30 p.m.; Indiana, 10:30 p.m.; and George Mason, 11:30 p.m. — along with bonus coverage from Cincinnati. Doug Gottlieb will cover Kelvin Sampson's debut at Indiana.

  • ESPN2 (Cox 28) will look at the tradition of the OU-Texas game in its "ESPNU Honor Roll: College Football's Greatest Rivalries" at 6:30 tonight.


     

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