Saturday’s game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Nebraska Cornhuskers was notable as it was the first since Scott Frost was fired as Nebraska head coach. It was also noteworthy for what happened during Fox’s broadcast.
At halftime of what had already turned into a very lopsided game, Fox commentator Joel Klatt announced that his broadcast partner Gus Johnson would not be returning for the second half because he was sick.
Joel Klatt announces Gus Johnson is under the weather and is out for the second half pic.twitter.com/0RTVNUoMJA
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 17, 2022
Klatt was then joined by analyst Brady Quinn in the booth and they were later joined by Nebraska fans’ favorite person, Urban Meyer.
Monday, Klatt stopped by The Next Round to talk about the game and the world of college football. They kicked off the conversation recapping the series of events that led to Klatt calling the game. The color commentator said not only does he have zero experience doing play-by-play but the thought of doing it never entered his mind.
“I’ve never done play-by-play in my life,” Klatt said. “Maybe in my head. But that was interesting.”
“Let’s just say I didn’t wake up thinking to myself, ‘Hey, I’m gonna call the second half.'”
The fact that the game was a blowout ended up working in their favor, at least in terms of making it easy on Joel. Not to mention, it worked out well that Big Noon Kickoff was in town, which meant Quinn and Meyer were both right there.
“We were, I guess, fortunate because of the style of the game and obviously Brady (Quinn) and the guys are there. Coach Meyer is there. In a weird way, in the fourth quarter, it was almost better to have a big, over-arching conversation about those programs and where they are at.”
Gus is doing well and already looking forward to next week!! Can't wait to have him back.
As for @OU_Football WOW!! so impressed with what they have done…Fast, Physical and great up front!
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) September 17, 2022
As far as how Johnson is doing, all signs point to him being back in shape to call next week’s game between Michigan and Maryland.
“Gus is doing great. It just happens. We’re human. He’s going to be fine. He’s going to be raring to go this week when we are up in Michigan.”
[The Next Round via Barrett Sports Media]
