National, Regional TV Networks Staying Away from Iowa State-Iowa Football Game; John Walters Favored to Be Pete Taylor's Successor in Cyclones' Radio Job
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RON MALY

Vol 3, No. 38,
May 27, 2003

Dan McCarney says he’s "not hearing real good stuff right now" about Sept. 13.

Not the football that will be played that day in Ames.

The television.

Sept. 13 is when McCarney’s Iowa State team goes searching for its sixth consecutive victory over Iowa at a yet-to-be-determined time at Jack Trice Stadium.

"Those final decisions haven’t been made, but I hear there’s a possibility the game may not be televised on a national or regional basis—which is hard to imagine," McCarney said.

"I’m hearing there are a lot of marquee games besides ours that weekend, so I think there’s a good chance the Iowa State-Iowa game may not be on TV unless it’s just statewide."

The only network game scheduled nationally so far for Sept. 13 is Illinois at UCLA at 7 p.m. on ABC.

Those of us in this state who regularly follow the fortunes of collegiate football teams think the annual game between the Cyclones and Hawkeyes is a pretty big deal. After all, overflow crowds show up every time it’s played at either Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City and Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

Last year’s Iowa State-Iowa game in Iowa City was one of the most exciting in the series and was televised nationally by ESPN2. To get it on that network, Iowa officials had to agree to schedule it at the strange time of 5 p.m.

That certainly didn’t take away from the attractiveness of the matchup. The game drew a capacity crowd of 70,397 and was one of only two home sellouts Iowa had all season. Wisconsin was the other in a year that saw the Hawkeyes win a school-record 11 games.

There was so much anticipation among fans that I’ll bet another 25,000 tickets could easily have been sold if Kinnick Stadium would have been big enough.

The same thing happens in Ames.

The Iowa game has attracted three of the five largest crowds in the new configuration of Jack Trice Stadium. Until Iowa State drew a throng of 51,888 for its game against Nebraska last season, the 51,042 for the Iowa game in 2001 had been its largest home turnout.

And that game wasn’t played until Nov. 24. It was delayed because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The 1999 Iowa State-Iowa game in Ames drew 50,402 fans and the 1997 game there attracted 50,066.

The people who sell tickets in Ames and Iowa City obviously think the Iowa State-Iowa rivalry is a pretty big deal, too. They charge fans a premium amount to see the game. For instance, Iowa State is asking any fan who wants to attend this year’s Iowa State-Iowa game to pay $50 per ticket for a reserved seat.

"That’ll make the tickets worth more than they were originally," McCarney said of the early report that there is nothing definite about TV plans for the game.

Reserved seat tickets to the Cyclones’ games against Northern Iowa and Ohio will cost $25. For the home games against Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas State and Colorado, a reserved seat costs $35.

The 2002 Iowa State-Iowa game turned out to be a dandy for ESPN2. The Hawkeyes broke to a 24-7 halftime lead, but quarterback Seneca Wallace led Iowa State to a 23-0 third-quarter rampage and an eventual 36-31 victory.

Iowa State went on to build a 6-1 record and had a No. 9 national ranking before going into a tailspin in the last half of the season. After the loss to the Cyclones, Iowa won its next nine games, tied for the Big Ten championship with an 8-0 record and finished No. 8 nationally after losing to Southern California, 38-17, in the Orange Bowl.

In the Hayden Fry coaching era at Iowa, when the Hawkeyes rolled up 15 straight victories over Iowa State—with some of the scores being 63-20, 57-3, 59-21 and 51-10---the national TV networks tended to avoid the series like it was the plague.

They could see TV sets around the nation being switched to other channels—or turned off completely—by halftime.

But McCarney ended Iowa State’s miseries against the Hawkeyes by winning the 1998 game, 27-9, at Kinnick Stadium, and he hasn’t lost since.

My guess is that, even if it becomes a fact that one of the national networks doesn’t televise the 2003 Iowa State-Iowa game, it will be picked up by one of the stations in the Des Moines market, then farmed out to other stations in cities such as Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Mason City, Ottumwa and maybe even Omaha.

That’s happened in the past.

It’s too good a rivalry not to be on TV.

Walters Favored for ISU Radio Job

It will come as a shock to me if John Walters isn’t named the successor to the late Pete Taylor as Iowa State’s football and men’s basketball play-by-play radio announcer.

Walters, the sports director at WOI-TV, has the backing of those who count in the Iowa State athletic department. Taylor, who was the Cyclones’ longtime announcer, died late in the basketball season at 57.

He was also an associate athletic director at Iowa State, but his replacement won’t be part of the athletic department. That would enable Walters to continue in his job at WOI-TV.

Walters has been Iowa State’s play-by-play TV announcer for men’s basketball and did a weekly TV show with former coach Larry Eustachy.

Taylor was the moderator for McCarney’s football TV show, which was taped on Sunday mornings at KCCI in Des Moines. When Taylor’s replacement is named, McCarney wants to start taping the show in Ames.

"They’re narrowing it down," McCarney said of the search to find Taylor’s replacement. "They’ve eliminated a lot of people. They listened to the tapes of a couple of out-of-state guys, and three or four guys are being considered.

"I’d love to have John Walters get the position, and I know he’s very interested. He’s a quality guy. He’s honest. He’ll tell it the way it is. That’s the way Pete was, and I have no problem with that. I know I’d enjoy working with John."

And Finally…..

Still on the subject of Iowa State’s next radio play-by-play announcer, I received this e-mail from a well-known Iowa City reader, who prefers to remain anonymous.

"Please let the Cyclones have Mark Allen. I’ll pay his moving expenses to Ames!"

Hmmm.

It’s just a wild guess, but I’d say my Iowa City correspondent is no fan of Allen.

I’ve heard some of Allen’s football sideline and women’s basketball work on the Iowa Radio Network and thought it was pretty good. I’ve also never had any off-the-field or off-the-court problems with him.

Allen had showed early interest in the Iowa State play-by-play job, but is no longer under consideration.

[Ron Maly’s e-mail address is malyr@juno.com ]