Charles Davis sizes up BCS title game
MEDIA Fox analyst excited to call OU-Florida game
By Mel Bracht
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Published: January 2, 2009
Fox Sports college football analyst Charles Davis, who will call the BCS national title game with play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman, speaks fondly of Oklahoma for several reasons.
Charles Davis
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Tickets are still available for the 3-D broadcast of the game, which will be shown at Carmike 10 in Stillwater among 75 theaters nationwide. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.carmike.com or at the theater, 1909 N Perkins. Telephone: (405) 372-0349.
The first 3-D broadcast of a major sports event is being produced through a partnership involving Cinedigm Digital, 3ality Digital, Fox, Sony and RealD.
His wife, the former Lisa Hales, grew up in the
Oklahoma City and
Norman area before moving to
Memphis, Tenn., while in high school. They met as students at the
University of Tennessee, where Davis was a standout defensive back.
One of his best friends,
Ron Thulin, worked in the Oklahoma media for several years, including most recently hosting an afternoon talk show on the now-defunct Jox 930. The pair teamed up on TBS’ college football telecasts.
And he said former OU coach
Barry Switzer, who will be a studio analyst for the BCS national title game, is a joy to work with.
"The fun is before the camera starts,” he said, "for a kid like me, hanging out with Barry Switzer and
Jimmy Johnson and those guys, soaking up their wisdom. Are you kidding me? For a kid from
New Paltz, N.Y., this is great.”
Davis discussed some of the keys to the BCS national title game, his third and last for Fox. Next year’s game will be in the
Rose Bowl and air on ABC and
ESPN then will talk over the BCS rights.
What are the keys to the game?
The offenses. What Oklahoma is doing, who has the thesaurus for it? How can you really adequately describe it? Five straight over 60 points and I know everyone wants to get in to "Is it the defenses?” I just tend to focus on what they’re doing. I don’t focus on would this team defend them better. Let’s be an honest about it. They’re not going to play an
SEC schedule. That’s the first thing you’ll hear, "That wouldn’t happen in the SEC.” They are going to play one time against an SEC team, and that will have to be our litmus test. And you and I know, that’s not a really good sample. That’s what fun about this. Will Oklahoma continue to roll that way versus a vaunted defense from the SEC like
Florida? But on the flip side, Florida put up some pretty good numbers themselves on offense. They went through the SEC, after that
Ole Miss game, and just went "whoosh!” It was just unbelievable. To beat teams by 28 points or more six straight time in the SEC, it’s obviously unheard of.
How do you size up the matchup of the two Heisman Trophy quarterbacks?
It makes for great intrigue, doesn’t it? They are two different styles. It’s easy to classify that (Tim) Tebow’s the runner and (Sam) Bradford’s the passer. But as you watch Tebow play, when they need a big throw to be made, he typically makes it. Bradford is a much better athlete than anyone wants to give him credit. It wouldn’t shock me at all if Oklahoma goes against a few tendencies in this game and we see some quarterback runs from Bradford, just to keep Florida honest. And if they do it, he’s going to do it well. He’s a heck of an athlete.
Oklahoma has stumbled in recent bowl games. Do you think that will be a factor this year?
Bowl games are funny animals. I don’t worry about past bowl history. I’m not going to spend any time worrying about Oklahoma’s bowl record going into this game and whether it will have an effect. They will be ready to play. All of a sudden,
Bob Stoops doesn’t know how to get ready for big games? How many big games did he win during the season to get there?
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