Last week, Fox’s Petros Papadakis expressed frustration about the network not knowing that Utah wouldn’t be starting quarterback Cam Rising in Thursday’s victory over Washington State.
On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham talked about the situation, saying “it was a complete surprise to all of us” that Rising wouldn’t be able to go. Whittingham also cited Fox’s remote broadcast of the game, which featured Papadakis and Jeff Levering calling the game off-site, as a reason the broadcast didn’t get word about Rising on short notice.
“And I guess I could have ran out there 45 minutes before the game and started spreading the word to them, but they weren’t even on site — they did it remotely — so I’m not sure what they expected,” said Whittingham.
I understand the frustration from Papadakis, but after Utah’s coaching staff learned Rising wouldn’t be able to play, the last thing on Whittingham’s mind was probably getting word to Fox. It doubt it would have been even if the broadcasters were on-site. But with the broadcasters in the studio, it seems like there were one too many hurdles to make sure everyone was on the same page going into the game.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.