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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2016)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, January 2, 2016 College Football TV ratings falter for College Football Playoff sioners who put together the College Football Playoff in 2012 said they wanted to create a new WUDGLWLRQ E\ SOD\LQJ WKH VHPL¿QDOV DALLAS — Jimmy Kimmel on New Year’s Eve twice every told people to watch. Even soap three years over the course of a opera stars on “General Hospital” 12-year contract with ESPN. This made not-so-subtle references to is year two of that deal. making plans to watch the College The decision was mostly to Football Playoff on New Year’s protect the interests of four confer- Eve. ences and two bowls. The Rose All the prodding and promoting Bowl with the Big Ten and Pac-12 wasn’t enough to convince many has traditionally been played in the fans to tune in. early evening of Jan. 1. The Big College football’s move to create 12 and Southeastern Conference D QHZ WUDGLWLRQ ZLWK VHPL¿QDO decided to have their own Rose matchups on New Year’s Eve drew Bowl-type relationship with the ratings more than a third lower than Sugar Bowl and lock in the televi- last season, when the matchups sion time slot right after the Rose were held on New Year’s Day. Bowl on Jan. 1. The Orange Bowl between (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) Those games have their own Clemson and Oklahoma, which kicked off about 4:10 p.m. EST Michigan State fullback Trevon Pendleton (37) leaves the ield after separate TV deals with ESPN and team’s Cotton Bowl NCAA college football semiinal playoff they were set before the playoff on ESPN, drew a 9.1 rating, a 38.5 the game against Alabama on Thursday. The television ratings for this percent drop compared to last year’s year’s semiinals took a huge hit, down 36 percent from last year. ZDV ¿QDOL]HG 7KH FRQWUDFWV ZLWK ESPN for the Rose Bowl, Sugar Rose Bowl, which got a 14.8 rating. Those games represented the Bowl and College Football Playoff The number of viewers dropped until all the results are in. I guess 44.5 percent from 28,164,000 for it’s like asking a coach to talk about biggest cable TV audiences ever, will pay the major college football the Rose to just 15,640,000 for the a whole game at halftime,” he said. XQWLOWKH¿UVWSOD\RIIFKDPSLRQVKLS conferences about $7.3 billion over The dramatic matchups and game with Oregon-Ohio State the life of the deals. Orange. ESPN was on board as long as it The Michigan State-Alabama UHVXOWV RI ODVW \HDU¶V ¿UVW &ROOHJH topped it with 33 million viewers. The matchups of this year’s owned the rights to all the games, Cotton Bowl drew a 9.6 rating for )RRWEDOO 3OD\RII VHPL¿QDOV OHG WR ESPN compared to 15.2 for Ohio record-breaking cable audiences games weren’t as attractive and though the network did suggest both turned out to be lopsided. moving this season’s games off State-Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for ESPN. Those games included a face-off Clemson beat Oklahoma 37-17, Dec. 31 to Jan. 2, an open Saturday last Jan. 1 — a 36.8 percent drop. Total viewership crashed 34.4 between Heisman Trophy winning pulling away in the second half. ZLWKQR1)/FRQÀLFWV%XWSOD\RII percent, going from 28,271,000 to quarterbacks Marcus Mariota and Alabama routed Michigan State RI¿FLDOVVDLGWKH\ZDQWHGWRFKDQJH Jameis Winston in the Rose Bowl. 38-0 in a game that was pretty the paradigm of New Year’s Eve 18,552,000. College Football Playoff execu- Ohio State and Alabama, two of the much over midway through the and did not want to push off getting fans acclimated to their new, if tive director Bill Hancock told the most popular programs in college third quarter. But the biggest difference was unpopular, idea. AP he was still awaiting the results football, played a game that went GRZQ WR WKH ¿QDO SOD\ 2KLR 6WDWH the day the games were played. ESPN and its sister network of the New Year’s Day games. The FBS conference commis- ABC, both owned by Disney, did “It’s just not appropriate to talk upset the Crimson Tide 42-35. By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer their best to encourage fans to work football into their New Year’s Eve party plans. ESPN wore out a promo with Kimmel, the late-night talk-show host and comedian, singing a parody of “Auld Lang Syne” with lyrics such as: “Yes, New Year’s Eve will be so awesome Watching college football through confetti! Missing out is not an option So plan accordingly.” This week, ABC daytime soap opera “General Hospital” had characters during the show making direct references to watching the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve. Social networks were virtually silent about the games compared to the year before. Last year, 10.1 million people saw one or more of PLOOLRQ WZHHWV DERXW WKH ¿UVW game, according to Nielsen. This year, just 6.5 million people saw one or more of 487,000 tweets sent about the game. 7KH VHPL¿QDOV URWDWH WKURXJK six bowl games — the Sugar, Rose, Cotton, Orange, Fiesta and Peach. 1H[W VHDVRQ WKH VHPL¿QDOV ZLOO again be played on New Year’s Eve, this time in the Fiesta Bowl in *OHQGDOH $UL]RQD DQG WKH 3HDFK Bowl in Atlanta. But Dec. 31 is a Saturday. The Rose and Sugar host WKH VHPL¿QDOV DJDLQ RQ -DQ 2018, following the 2017 season. Following the 2018 regular season, New Year’s Eve falls on Monday. GRIFFEY: ALAMO BOWL: Adams excited to make Continued from 1B That No. 1 Upper Deck base- ball card with Griffey’s smile? It’s never left the protective plastic case from the day it was purchased. Before every game was avail- able on TV, summer nights were spent sitting outside listening to Dave Niehaus on the radio provide a living narrative to Griffey’s career, then staying up late to watch the local news hoping for a 20-second clip of the latest feat of No. 24. The homers and the catches are too numerous to list, all looking effortless. The Spider-Man into the wall at the Kingdome. The back-to-back homers with his dad and the shot off the warehouse in Baltimore. Bookend moments OLNHKRPHULQJLQKLV¿UVWDWEDWLQ WKH.LQJGRPHDQGWKH¿QDOJDPH there. The 56 homers and MVP in 1997, and a Gold Glove for each ¿QJHURQERWKKDQGV And the most memorable moment in franchise history when Griffey’s sprinted home from ¿UVW EDVH WR ZLQ *DPH RI WKH 1995 ALDS over the Yankees, accompanied by Niehaus’ radio call: “Here’s Junior to third base. They’re going to wave him in. The throw to the plate will be late. The Mariners are going to play for the American League championship.” *ULIIH\ZRQ¶WEHWKH¿UVWZLWK a Mariners connection to reach the Hall of Fame. Gaylord Perry is in, but his link to Seattle is pitching his way to a 300th win during his 1 1/2 seasons there. Niehaus is in for his years of service as the voice of baseball LQWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWFUHDWLQJ a soundtrack that was easy on the ears if the baseball itself was for many seasons tough on the eyes. Randy Johnson entered a year ago, but he plied his Cy Young IRUP ZKLOH SLWFKLQJ LQ $UL]RQD and elsewhere later in his career. This is where Griffey is different from anyone else with a Seattle connection. Drafted and cultivated through the Mariners farm system, he lived up to all the expectations that came from being a No. 1 overall draft pick and became the best player of his generation. The criticisms of Griffey are valid. He never embraced the Northwest the way it engulfed him. Part of that was youth, part was demeanor. His departures from Seattle on both occasions ZHUHPHVV\WKH¿UVWWLPHVWURQJ arming a trade from the Mariners to Cincinnati before the 2000 season and then literally driving away in the middle of the 2010 season and calling it a career. Even with those blemishes he is still beloved. Consider that when Griffey was inducted into Seattle’s Hall of Fame in 2013 it was the only sellout of that season and even Griffey was left wiping away tears by the end. “Sometimes I may have been VWDQGRI¿VK , GLGQ¶W PHDQ WR´ KH said that night. “I just wanted to play baseball. And that was really the only thing that mattered was me going out there and playing and trying to win ballgames for this team.” ¿UVWDQGRQO\ERZOJDPHDSSHDUDQFH The Frogs are third at 564 yards a game, and Oregon fourth at 548 running back Royce Freeman, yards per game. went from a slight underdog to a But TCU will also be without touchdown favorite after Boykin star receiver Josh Doctson, who was suspended within hours after set school records with 79 catches his arrest outside a bar near San for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns Antonio’s famed River Walk even while missing two games and around 2 a.m. Thursday. parts of two others with a broken Adams, the graduate transfer left wrist. who succeeded 2014 Heisman Boykin has accounted for 56 Trophy winner Marcus Mariota percent of TCU’s offense since after the Ducks were national 2012. He threw for 3,575 yards runner-ups last season, has with 31 touchdowns and ran for thrown for 2,446 yards with 25 612 yards and 10 more scores this touchdowns and six interceptions. season. He has played only nine games After sharing the Big 12 title EHFDXVHRIDEURNHQ¿QJHU and getting snubbed for a playoff ³7KLVLVP\¿UVWDQGODVWERZO season last season, TCU started game, but I’m excited to get out this season ranked No. 2 in the AP here and show what I got too,” poll. The Frogs started 8-0 before Adams said. losing at Oklahoma State, then TCU (10-2) and Oregon are lost at Oklahoma with Boykin out two of the nation’s top offense. because of a sprained right ankle. Continued from 1B “Our motto this year was prove them right. I mean, everybody counted us out,” TCU receiver Kolby Listenbee said. “For this game, it’s prove them wrong.” Some other things to know when the Alamo Bowl has two top 15 teams for the second year in a row after no such matchups the ¿UVWJDPHV DUCK CALLS: Matt Lubick has been promoted from Oregon’s receivers coach to offensive coor- dinator to replace Scott Frost, who left to become Central Florida’s coach. Third-year coach Mark Helfrich made the expected move RI¿FLDO )ULGD\ DQG VDLG /XELFN will call plays in the Alamo Bowl. GO GREEN: Senior running back Aaron Green leads TCU with 1,171 yards rushing and 10 WRXFKGRZQV+HLVWKH)URJV¶¿UVW \DUGUXVKHULQ¿YHVHDVRQV and has the most yards since LaDainian Tomlison’s 2,158 in 2000. BIG GAINS: Oregon sopho- more running back Royce Freeman is the only FBS player with at least 100 yards from scrimmage in every game this season, and has a national-best 71 plays that have gained at least 10 yards. His is the Pac-12 leader with 142 yards rushing per game, and needs 100 yards to break LaMichael James’ single-season record 1,805 set in 2011. IN HONOR: Oregon sopho- more receiver Darren Cunningham is switching from No. 7 to No. 22 in honor of late New Mexico safety Markel Byrd. Cunning- ham’s longtime friend and former prep teammate in San Diego was killed a single-car crash Dec. 22. Byrd wore No. 22 for the Lobos. STANFORD: &DUGLQDOVHW¿UVWTXDUWHUVFRULQJUHFRUG the NCAA record for all-purpose yards. McCaffrey also became the all-purpose yards, propelling No. 5 ¿UVW SOD\HU HYHU WR UDFN XS PRUH Stanford to a 45-16 victory over the than 100 yards rushing and 100 sixth-ranked Hawkeyes on Friday. yards receiving in a Rose Bowl. Kevin Hogan passed for 223 6WDQIRUG DQG ,RZD ¿QLVKHG \DUGVDQGWKUHH7'VLQKLV¿QDOJDPH LQ WKH ¿QDO WZR VSRWV RXWVLGH WKH for the Cardinal (12-2), who won the &ROOHJH )RRWEDOO 3OD\RII ¿HOG EXW Rose Bowl for the second time in the Cardinal showed they belong three trips over the past four years for among the best with their 12th win this unlikely football powerhouse. LQWKHLU¿QDOJDPHV McCaffrey was sublime in his With a powerful offensive line debut at the Granddaddy of Them and a sturdy defense, they also All, breaking the all-purpose yards UXLQHGWKH¿UVWWULSWR3DVDGHQDLQ record set by Wisconsin’s Jared 25 years for the Hawkeyes (12-2), Abbrederis in 2012. who followed up their remarkable 0F&DIIUH\ ¿QLVKHG VHFRQG 12-0 regular season with two post- behind Alabama’s Derrick Henry season losses. in the Heisman voting, but the C.J. Beathard passed for 239 speedy sophomore left no doubt yards and two fourth-quarter about his brilliance with one of the touchdowns for the Hawkeyes, most dynamic performances in the whose thousands of fans proudly 102-game history of the Rose Bowl. ¿OOLQJ WKH YHQHUDEOH VWDGLXP ZLWK He had 172 yards rushing, 105 old gold and black. The faithful had yards receiving and 91 on kick painfully little to cheer after Iowa returns, putting an appropriate fell behind in the opening seconds, cap on the season in which he set putting a daylong damper on Kirk Continued from 1B )HUHQW]¶V ¿UVW 5RVH %RZO DIWHU years as a head coach. Just 11 seconds in, Hogan hit McCaffrey with a TD pass down the middle. After Hogan rushed for an 8-yard score and Quenton Meeks returned an interception 66 yards for another TD, the Cardinal KDGWKHKLJKHVWVFRULQJ¿UVWTXDUWHU in the Rose Bowl’s lengthy history. The rout was really on after McCaffrey’s 63-yard TD return in the opening minute of the second, and Stanford comfortably sat on its 35-point halftime lead while improving to 7-7-1 in the Rose Bowl in school history. Michael Rector caught two touchdown passes for Stanford, which reigned atop the Pac-12 and conquered the Rose Bowl again with coach David Shaw’s brand of simple, powerful football. That style has led to a renaissance for Stanford, which beat Wisconsin in the 2013 Rose Bowl and lost to Michigan State two years ago in the 100th edition. Hogan became the third quarter- back to start three Rose Bowls, but he hadn’t thrown a TD pass in the game until he hit McCaffrey over the middle on the opening snap. It was the second-longest TD pass in Rose Bowl history and the longest play given up all season by the stingy Iowa defense. Hogan then showed off his elusiveness on a TD run to cap a 74-yard drive, and Meeks erased ,RZD¶V ¿UVW VROLG GULYH ZLWK D 7' interception return down the Stan- ford sideline. Iowa had never trailed by more than seven points at any point in its magical season, which included WKH¿UVWVWDUWLQVFKRROKLVWRU\ before a narrow loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten title game. McCaffrey then took a return through the heart of Iowa’s coverage unit, juking Iowa linebacker Josey -HZHOORQWKHZD\WRKLV¿UVW7'RQ a punt return this season. HERMISTON:7KUHH%XOOGRJV¿QLVK¿UVWGD\XQGHIHDWHG Isaiah Aguilar at 113 pounds, but back-to-back Bulldog wins Bulldogs going again. After an ballooned the lead back to 27-10 overtime loss by 145-pounder Will before the Rams would score again. Sharkey, Hermiston’s Valen Wyse Wyse picked up his second knotted the team score at 24-all ¿UVWURXQG SLQ RI WKH GD\ LQ when he pinned Lucky Brockman over Cody Glenn at 152 pounds to LQWKH¿UVWURXQG push Hermiston’s lead to 36-20 and Park Hill secured victory by begin a streak of four Bulldog wins SLQQLQJ WKH ¿QDO WZR %XOOGRJV to close the dual. however, sending Hermiston into Hermiston then faced small- a consolation match against Rio VFKRRO FRRS =XPEURWD0D]HSSD Rancho of New Mexico. RI0LQQHVRWDLQWKH¿IWKSODFHGXDO The Bulldogs put the Rams and again cruised to a 41-18 win away 51-20 with relative ease, and that was never in question. had a 12-0 lead before wrestling a Colbray pinned Luke Dahlen in match due to Rio Rancho forfeits at 36 seconds to open the match and 195 and 220 pounds. the Bulldogs won six of the next Heavyweight Beau Blake made seven bouts to take a commanding LWZLWKD¿UVWURXQGSLQ 31-6 lead. of Elijah Goodwin, and Hermiston Joining Colbray in going 3-0 never allowed the Rams to get on the afternoon were Wyse and within tying range in the team tally. Hendon. Wyse earned a tech-fall The closest Rio Rancho would LQ KLV ¿QDO PDWFK DQG come was 18-10 following Tyler Hendon capped his day with a Deen’s major decision win over major decision (10-2). Continued from 1B Going 2-1 for the Bulldogs were Tuia, Bob Coleman at 182 pounds, John-Henry Line (195), Andy Wagner (126), Beau Blake (285) and Liam Tarvin (120). Coleman was 2-0 before losing KLV¿QDOPDWFKRQDWLHEUHDNHU when two overtime periods ended with the score knotted at 1-1. Today Hermiston will begin round robin action at 9 a.m. DJDLQVW WKH RWKHU WKUHH ¿IWKSODFH teams from the tournament’s four brackets. First up for the Bulldogs is Jefferson City (Missouri), then Prior Lake (Minnesota) and last Hastings (Minnesota). ——— Park Hill 36, Hermiston 24 182, B. Coleman (H) def. T. Hullaby, 5-3 (0-3) 195, J. Sobbing (P) def. J. Line, 5-2 (3-3) 220, S. Colbray (H) pins N. Smith, :47 (3-9) 285, L. Brown (P) def. B. Blake, 6-0 (6-9) 106, K. Eblen (P) pins R. Madrigal, 3:24 (12-9) 113, J. Steele (P) def. I. Aguilar, 3-0 (15-9) 120, A. Kolvek (P) def. L. Tarvin, 8-5 (18-9) 126, W. DiBlasi (P) def. A. Wagner, 3-0 (21-9) 132, A. Tuia (H) def. C. Goslee, 3-0 (21-12) 138, C. Hendon (H) pins E. Dantzscher, :33 (21-18) 145, B. Hopson (P) def. W. Sharkey, TB-1 4-3 (24-18) 152, V. Wyse (H) pins L. Brockman, 1:19 (24-24) 160, D. Winston (P) pins J. Gutierrez, :30 (30-24) 170, C. Marriott (P) pins B. McDonough, 4:33 (36-24) Hermiston 51, Rio Rancho 20 195, J. Line (H) win by forfeit (6-0) 220, S. Colbray (H) win by forfeit (12-0) 285, B. Blake (H) pins E. Goodwin, 1:12 (18-0) 106, D. Vargas (R) pins R. Madrigal, 4:45 (18-6) 113, T. Deen (R) def. I. Aguilar, MD 11-0 (18-10) 120, L. Tarvin (H) def. J. Emmer, 5-3 (21-10) 126, A. Wagner (H) def. O. Gutierrez, INJ 3:22 (27-10) 132, K. Gonzales (R) def. A. Tuia, MD 13-3 (27-14) 138, C. Hendon (H) def. Z. Vigil, 5-1 (30-14) 145, R. Rochford (R) pins W. Sharkey, :36 (30-20) 152, V. Wyse (H) pins C. Glenn, 1:33 (36-20) 160, J. Gutierrez (H) def. E. Pakozdi, 5-0 (39-20) 170, B. McDonough (H) pins E. Chavez, 2:22 (45-20) 182, B. Coleman (H) pins G. Hermanns (R), 2:50 (51-20) Hermiston 41, Zumbrota-Mazeppa 18 220, S. Colbray (H) pins L. Dahlen, :36 (6-0) 285, B. Blake (H) win by forfeit (12-0) 106, C. Heitman (Z) pins R. Madrigal, :26 (12-6) 113, I. Aguilar (H) def. M. Vath, 11-8 (15-6) 120, L. Tarvin (H) pins S. Defrang, 2:46 (21-6) 126, A. Wagner (H) def. H. Stensland, 7-2 (24-6) 132, A. Tuia (H) def. L. Tupper, 5-2 (27-6) 138, C. Hendon (H) def. S. Nordquist, MD 10-2 (31-6) 145, M. Johnson (Z) def. W. Sharkey, 7-1 (31-9) 152, V. Wyse (H) def. H. Voxland, TF 19-4 (36-9) 160, J. Bennett (Z) def. J. Gutierrez, 3-1 (36-12) 170, D. Manzy (Z) def. B. McDounough, 6-4 (36-15) 182, C. Steffen (Z) def. B. Coleman, TB-1 2-1 (36-18) 195, J. Line (H) pins J. Haglund, 5:35 (41-18)
