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By SHARON GINN
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2001
Coming soon to your Saturday mornings: more in-depth interviews, more stories from obscure college teams, more of Lee Corso donning mascot heads.
In other words, more College GameDay.
The onetime half-hour preview show, which expanded to an hour several years ago, is a whopping 90 minutes, with a starting time of 10:30 (be thankful you don't live on the West Coast).
The show that long ago took on a life of its own now has a longer life so it can have "more opportunities to get in more types of stories," coordinating producer Steve Vecchione said.
"There are always good storylines, even in games that don't really figure into the national picture," he said. "There's always some running back trying to set a school record."
And there always are viewers interested in that running back -- or at least, willing to sit through his story while waiting for Corso, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit to unveil their predictions.
The extra 30 minutes, which Vecchione calls "an eternity in television," will come in handy for special events, such as Joe Paterno's pursuit of Bear Bryant's Division I-A career victories record. Fowler sat down with Paterno this summer and got nearly an hour of material; his piece will air Saturday.
COOPER SCOOP: Former Ohio State coach John Cooper has a new hot seat. He'll serve as an analyst on "select ESPN2 telecasts," according to the network.
While ABC and CBS return essentially the same on-air lineup, ESPN and ESPN2 will add other new faces, including former NFL offensive lineman and Outland Trophy winner Mark May and former NFL defensive lineman and Lombardi Trophy winner Chris Spielman.
ESPN's Pam Ward, who became the first woman to call a national college football game last season (Bowling Green-Toledo, Nov. 22), is back in the booth. Her first assignment is tonight when she calls the Arizona-San Diego State game on ESPN2.
FORK IT OVER: Florida State fans who want to see the season opener against Duke live on Saturday will have to call their cable companies and pay for the privilege. The game will be available only on pay-per-view for $24.95 (in advance) or $29.95 (on game day).
Blame the Atlantic Coast Conference television contract, which requires that when a team does not have its game selected by ABC, ESPN or Jefferson Pilot, the game can be only live on a statewide basis on pay-per-view. Seminoles fans can see the game on tape delay on Sunshine on Sunday at 7 p.m. and Monday at 12:30 p.m.
NEW ADDRESS IS CBS: The Southeastern Conference championship game, televised since its inception on ABC, is part of CBS' SEC lineup. The network also no longer will broadcast Big East games (that contract went to ESPN), so all of its SEC broadcasts will be aired nationally. Most games will begin at 3:30 p.m., with the SEC title game scheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 1.