NBC College Football Game of the Week
{{Short description|Nationally televised broadcasts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
The NBC College Football Game of the Week refers to nationally televised broadcasts of Saturday afternoon college football games in the 1950s and 1960s that were produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. Bowl games were always exempt from the NCAA's television regulations, and the games' organizers were free to sign rights deals with any network. In NBC's case, the 1952 Rose Bowl at the end of that particular season was the first national telecast of a college bowl game.{{cite web|title=Rose Bowl Game History — KTLA |url=http://ktla.trb.com/extras/ktla/roseparade2008/history-game.html |access-date=May 28, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308175150/http://ktla.trb.com/extras/ktla/roseparade2008/history-game.html |archive-date=March 8, 2008 |url-status=dead }}
Background
NBC first televised college football on September 30, 1939. NBC broadcast the game between Waynesburg and Fordham on station W2XBS (which would eventually become NBC's flagship station, WNBC) with one camera and Bill Stern{{cite web |url=http://www.jimramsburg.com/bill-stern.html|title=BILL STERN (Audio) - Gold Time Radio - Jim Ramsburg|website=Jim Ramsburg}} was the sole announcer. Estimates are that the broadcast reached approximately 1,000 television sets.{{cite web|url=http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/waynesbergarticle.html|publisher=American Sportscasters Online|title=First televised football game, Waynesberg vs Fordham, 1939|access-date=February 11, 2011}} Twelve years later, the first live regular season college football game to be broadcast coast-to-coast aired on NBC.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MqLdmm6zT8YC&pg=PA50 | editor-first=Paul M. | editor-last=Pedersen | editor2-first=Janet B. | editor2-last=Parks | editor3-first=Jerome | editor3-last=Quarterman | editor4-first=Lucie | editor4-last=Thibault | title=Contemporary Sport Management | edition=4th | publisher=Human Kinetics | location=Champaign, Illinois | year=2011 | page=50 | isbn=978-0-7360-8167-2 | access-date=2012-03-25}}{{cite book |last=Watterson|first=John Sayle|date=November 14, 2002|title=College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFDCUPCIU7kC&q=1952+NBC+college+football&pg=PA270|page=270|publisher=JHU Press |isbn= 9780801871146}} The game in question, was Duke at the Pittsburgh on September 29, 1951.
Pretty soon on June 6,{{cite news |last=Branch|first=Taylor|date=October 2011|title=The Shame of College Sports|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/|work=The Atlantic}} 1952, NBC Head of Sport Tom Gallery{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcsports.com/our-history#decade_3|title=NBC acquires rights to NCAA football|website=NBC Sports History Page}} led negotiations towards a one-year{{cite news |last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=May 27, 2015|title=Walter Byers, Ex-N.C.A.A. Leader Who Rued Corruption, Dies at 93|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/sports/walter-byers-ex-ncaa-leader-who-rued-corruption-dies-at-93.html|work=New York Times}} football contract{{cite book |last=Fleisher|first=Arthur A.|page=53|title=The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior|date=15 June 1992 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cmv5YNVTVCYC&q=1952+NBC+college+football&pg=PA53|isbn= 9780226253268}} (for $1,144,000{{cite book |last=Zimbalist|first=Andrew|date=15 January 2001|title=Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2RT_O9cVL0C&q=1952+NBC+college+football&pg=PA94|page=94|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn= 9781400823079}}) with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The contract incidentally came about after the 1951 NCAA convention voted 161-7 to outlaw televised games except for those licensed by the NCAA staff. The deal{{cite news |last=Wolters|first=Larry|date=June 12, 1952|title=June 12, 1952 - TELEVISION NEWS AND VIEWS|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1952/06/12/page/98/article/television-news-and-views|work=Chicago Tribune}} allowed NBC to select one game a week{{cite book |last=Byers|first=Walter|title=Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes|date=1995 |jstor=10.3998/mpub.14486|pages=79–96|publisher=University of Michigan Press |doi=10.3998/mpub.14486 |isbn=978-0-472-10666-0 }} to broadcast on Saturday afternoons, with the assurance that no other NCAA college football broadcast would appear on a competitive network. In the first college football game to be broadcast under this new NCAA television contract, on September 20, Kansas defeated TCU 13–0.
By 1953, the NCAA allowed NBC to add what it called "panorama" coverage of multiple regional broadcasts for certain weeks – shifting national viewers to the most interesting game during its telecast.{{Cite journal| title = Why Football on TV is Limited | journal = Look | date = October 20, 1953 | postscript = (The "primary purpose is to reduce the impact of the television upon game attendance")}} After NBC lost its college football contract following the 1953 season, they carried Canadian football in 1954. NBC regained college football rights in 1955 and aired games through the 1959 season. NBC regained the NCAA contract for the 1964 and 1965 seasons.
Even after losing the rights to regular season college football in both 1959 and 1965, NBC continued to carry postseason football. NBC carried the Blue–Gray Football Classic, an all-star game, on Christmas Day, until dropping the game in 1963 as a protest of the game's policy of segregation.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11415752/bluegray_telecast_is_killed/ |title=Blue-Gray Telecast Is Killed |agency=UPI |newspaper=The Anniston Star |location=Anniston, Alabama |date=November 9, 1963 |access-date=June 1, 2017 |via=newspapers.com}} It consistently served as the Rose Bowl's television home until 1988 and added the Sugar Bowl from 1958 to 1969 (which replaced the network's coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic).
Commentators
{{see also|List of NBC College Football personalities}}
=Play-by-play=
File:Red Grange Lindsey Nelson Game of the Week 1955.JPG (top) with broadcast partner Lindsey Nelson for NBC's NCAA Game of the Week coverage, 1955.]]
- Mel Allen (1952–58)
- Lee Giroux (1956)
- Chick Hearn (1957–58, 1965)
- Lindsey Nelson (1953, 1955–59, 1964–65)
- Jim Simpson (1957)
=Color commentary=
- Frankie Albert (1965; with Chick Hearn)
- Terry Brennan (1964–65; with Lindsey Nelson)
- Leo Durocher (1956; with Lee Giroux on west coast regional games)
- Bill Flemming (1957–58; with Mel Allen)
- Lee Giroux (1957–58; with Chick Hearn)
- Curt Gowdy (1958; with Mel Allen)
- Red Grange (1955–59; with Lindsey Nelson)
- Charley Harville (1957; with Jim Simpson on southeast games)
- Bill Henry (1952)
- Bill Munday (1953; with Lindsey Nelson)
- Lindsey Nelson (1953; with Mel Allen)
- Bill Voights (1956; with Mel Allen on midwest regional games)
- Bud Wilkinson (1964–65; with Lindsey Nelson)
Schedules
All rankings are from that week's AP Poll
=[[1952 college football season|1952]]=
Mel Allen and Bill Henry served as the primary broadcast crew.
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 20
|3:45 p.m. |
| September 27
|1:25 p.m. |
| October 4
|4:40 p.m. |
| October 11
|Texas A&M at #2 Michigan State |1:45 p.m. |
| October 18
|1:45 p.m. |
| October 25
|2:15 p.m. |
| November 1
|2:15 p.m. |
| November 8
|#4 Oklahoma at #10 Notre Dame |2:15 p.m. |
| November 15
|#12 Alabama at #2 Georgia Tech |2:15 p.m. |
| November 22
|4:45 p.m. |
| November 29
|Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:00 p.m. |
===1953===
Mel Allen and Lindsey Nelson served as the primary broadcast crew.
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 19
|3:45 p.m. |
| September 26
|Dartmouth vs. Holy Cross at Lynn, MA |1:45 p.m. |
| October 3
|#6 Ohio State at California |4:45 p.m. |
| October 10
|#16 Oklahoma vs. #15 Texas as Dallas, TX |2:30 p.m. |
| October 17
|2:45 p.m. |
| October 24
|Cornell at Princeton |2:45 p.m. |
| October 31
|Pittsburgh at #14 Minnesota |2:45 p.m. |
| November 7
|Georgia at Florida |2:45 p.m. |
| November 14
|Michigan at #4 Michigan State |1:15 p.m. |
| November 21
|4:15 p.m. |
| November 26
|2:45 p.m. |
| November 28
|#18 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 5
|SMU at #2 Notre Dame |2:00 p.m. |
=[[1955 college football season|1955]]=
Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew.
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 17
|#9 Miami (FL) at #10 Georgia Tech |3:15 p.m. |
| September 24
|#7 Pittsburgh at Syracuse |1:15 p.m. |
| October 1
|#8 Ohio State at Stanford |4:45 p.m. |
| October 8
|1:45 p.m. |
| October 15
|#4 Notre Dame at #13 Michigan State |2:45 p.m. |
| October 22
|Princeton at Cornell |1:45 p.m. |
| October 29
|2:15 p.m. |
| November 5
|#6 Notre Dame at Penn |1:15 p.m. |
| November 12
|1:15 p.m. |
| November 19
|4:15 p.m. |
| November 24
|2:00 p.m. |
| November 26
|Army vs. #11 Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 3
|North Carolina at Duke |1:45 p.m. |
=[[1956 college football season|1956]]=
Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew.
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 22
|#4 Georgia Tech at Kentucky |3:00 p.m. |
| September 29
|Cornell at Colgate |1:45 p.m. |
| October 6
|4:00 p.m. |
| October 13
|Holy Cross at Penn State |1:45 p.m. |
| October 20
|Army at #13 Syracuse |1:45 p.m. |
| October 27
|#2 Oklahoma at Notre Dame |2:45 p.m. |
| November 3
|Notre Dame vs. Navy at Baltimore, MD |1:45 p.m. |
| November 10
|2:15 p.m. |
| November 17
|#20 Princeton at Yale |1:45 p.m. |
| November 22
|Cornell at Penn |1:45 p.m. |
| November 24
|USC at UCLA |4:15 p.m. |
| December 1
|Army vs. #13 Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 8
|#13 Pittsburgh at #6 Miami (FL) |2:15 p.m. |
=[[1957 college football season|1957]]=
Lindsey Nelson and Red Grange served as the primary broadcast crew. On October 12 and 26 and November 9, 23 and 28, NBC showed regional games with Mel Allen/Bill Flemming (midwest), Jim Simpson/Charley Harville (southeast), and Chick Hearn/Lee Giroux (west).
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 21
|Maryland vs. #2 Texas A&M at Dallas, TX |4:45 p.m. |
| September 28
|Northwestern at #16 Stanford |4:45 p.m. |
| October 5
|#2 Michigan State at California |5:15 p.m. |
| October 12
|#12 Notre Dame vs. #10 Army at Philadelphia, PA |1:45 p.m. |
| October 19
|2:15 p.m. |
| October 26
|Penn State at Syracuse |1:15 p.m. |
| November 2
|1:15 p.m. |
| November 9
|#16 Duke vs. #7 Navy at Baltimore, MD |1:45 p.m. |
| November 16
|Notre Dame at #2 Oklahoma |2:45 p.m. |
| November 23
|Harvard at Yale |1:15 p.m. |
| November 28
|Colgate at Brown |1:15 p.m. |
| November 30
|#10 Army vs. #8 Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 7
|Pittsburgh at Miami (FL) |3:45 p.m. |
===1958===
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 20
|Vanderbilt at Missouri |4:45 p.m. |
| September 27
|4:45 p.m. |
| October 4
|Washington State at California |4:45 p.m. |
| October 11
|#5 Ohio State at Illinois |2:15 p.m. |
| October 18
|Penn State at Boston University |1:15 p.m. |
| October 25
|#1 Army at Pittsburgh |1:15 p.m. |
| November 1
|Michigan State at #8 Wisconsin |1:15 p.m. |
| November 8
|#14 Notre Dame at Pittsburgh |1:15 p.m. |
| November 15
|Princeton at Yale |1:15 p.m. |
| November 22
|#15 Notre Dame at #6 Iowa |2:15 p.m. |
| November 27
|2:45 p.m. |
| November 29
|#5 Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 6
|1:15 p.m. |
=[[1959 college football season|1959]]=
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams !Time (ET) |
|---|
| September 19
|4:45 p.m. |
| September 26
|#2 Oklahoma at #10 Northwestern |3:15 p.m. |
| October 3
|California at #10 Texas |5:15 p.m. |
| October 10
|Penn at Princeton |1:45 p.m. |
| October 17
|2:15 p.m. |
| October 24
|#15 Iowa at #14 Purdue |3:15 p.m. |
| October 31
|Air Force vs. Army at Bronx, NY |1:45 p.m. |
| November 7 (Doubleheader) |Pittsburgh at Boston College |1:15 p.m. |
| November 14
|Pittsburgh at Notre Dame |1:15 p.m. |
| November 21
|#9 Wisconsin at Minnesota |2:15 p.m. |
| November 26
|North Carolina at Duke |1:45 p.m. |
| November 28
|Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia, PA |1:15 p.m. |
| December 5
|3:45 p.m. |
=[[1964 NCAA University Division football season|1964]]=
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams |
|---|
| September 12
|UCLA at Pittsburgh |
| September 19
|#10 Navy at Penn State |
| September 26 |
| October 3
|Syracuse at Holy Cross |
| October 10 |
| October 17
|USC at #2 Ohio State |
| October 24
|Dartmouth at Harvard |
| October 31
|Pittsburgh at Syracuse |
| November 7
|Illinois at Michigan |
| November 14
|Michigan State at #1 Notre Dame |
| November 21
|Cornell at Princeton |
| November 26 |
| November 28 |
| December 5 |
=[[1965 NCAA University Division football season|1965]]=
| class="wikitable" |
| Date
!Teams |
|---|
| September 11 |
| September 18
|#5 Alabama at Georgia |
| September 25
|Iowa at Oregon State |
| October 2
|Ohio State at Washington |
| October 9
|Pittsburgh at Duke |
| October 16 |
| October 23
|#4 USC at #7 Notre Dame |
| October 30
|Duke at Georgia Tech |
| November 6
|Air Force at Army in Chicago |
| November 13
|Cornell at Dartmouth |
| November 20
|Harvard at Yale |
| November 25 |
| November 27 |
| December 4
|Penn State at Maryland |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{College football on television}}
{{NBC Sports}}
{{Notre Dame Football on NBC}}
Category:College football television series
College Football Game of the Week
Category:NBC original programming
Category:1952 American television series debuts
Category:1959 American television series endings