It’s not often that we see a broadcast team have to make adjustments in the middle of a game due to illness, but that’s exactly what we got during Fox’s broadcast of Saturday afternoon’s game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
At halftime of the lopsided game, Fox analyst and commentator Joel Klatt announced that his broadcast partner Gus Johnson would not be returning for the second half because he was feeling sick.
“Folks, Gus is under the weather and is going to need to step away for the second half,” Klatt said as the broadcast returned after halftime. “I’ll be taking you the rest of the way.”
Shortly after Klatt’s announcement, fellow Fox analyst Brady Quinn joined Klatt in the booth to finish the game. The network also Tweeted an update on the situation.
“Gus Johnson is feeling under the weather and will be stepping away for the second half, Joel Klatt and Brady Quinn will be on the call for the remainder of the game,” Fox said in a Tweet.
Johnson showed no serious signs of discomfort during the first half of the game although he did begin to sound a little flat during the last few minutes of the broadcast before halftime. Johnson seemed to leave the booth just before halftime and Klatt called the last play himself to send the game to the intermission.
It was certainly an odd situation, but the silver lining is that the game was effectively over before Johnson left the broadcast with the Sooners taking a 35-7 lead into halftime.
[gifdsports, Fox Sports]