Gameday

Steve Jones remains constant, dependable presence

After an historic offseason of change for Penn State football (coach, players, stadium, uniforms), Saturday's season opener brings some important and valuable consistency around one important Penn State's broadcast option.

Steve Jones will handle play-by-play duties for those connected to the streaming audio or listening on the radio. It's a group of people that stretches across the world.

And while there are never as many people listening as there are watching on TV, those who do follow the football program that way appreciate the connection and they're passionate.

Jones appropriately brings an unparalleled level of preparation, passion and perspective to the position.

He's been working with analyst Jack Ham since 2000, as well as sideline reporter Brian Tripp in recent seasons. Jones's tenure has spanned four head coaches (Paterno, O'Brien, Franklin, Campbell) and so many games and storylines -- on the field and off.

Through it all, Jones has been the constant. He's super at the most important part of his job -- down and distance, descriptions, game situations, statistics and history. He's also been vital at providing consistency and context during times of change.

While Jones invariably credits Ham and the broadcast team's overall effort whenever talking about his job, he knows what he does matters.

"Change can be jarring for people and when change has happened here it has been jarring," Jones says. "How everything happened with Joe Paterno. Jarring. How Bill O'Brien went off to the NFL. Jarring. How everything happened with James Franklin. Jarring.

"I think for fans it's always good to have something they can rely on and is a constant. And hopefully for my part I can at least be that and be dependable for the fans."

Dependable might be the best word for Jones. He's a mistake-free, reliable pro who presents and sometimes protects the Penn State program. Few people know their job and do it as well as him.

On the doorstep of a season that will introduce fans to even more change, Jones's presence might be as important as ever.

Bad bottom

Some may point to it as a change that creates additional on-screen real estate to enhance the experience for TV viewers, but for me it's simply a change that provides viewers less information.

This season ESPN has dropped its Bottom Line score and information feed that ticks across the bottom of screens during college football games. For a sport where context should be of interest, providing scores of other games and updates about what's happening around the country, such information seems like a necessity -- something important.

Instead, ESPN -- whose company motto is "Serve Sports Fans Anywhere" -- has decided to not serve fans watching the game.

More isn't always better, better is better. In this case, though, more on-screen information would be better.

Yes, it got cluttered and clumsy at times when those in charge shared more than just scores and went overboard to promote ESPN programming. But finding a way to fix and focus the information the ticker delivered would've been better than cutting it completely.

Noting noon

Interest in defending national champion Indiana might be a good thing for Penn State fans who dislike noon games, and especially those who dislike Fox's Big Noon Kickoff.

That's because recent ratings show a bit more interest in the Hoosiers than Nittany Lions, and the network might be apt to pick them for games in that time slot instead of Penn State.

For example, Ohio State-Indiana will air on Fox Oct. 17.

Of course, Ohio State drove that selection as well. The Buckeyes are the most reliable ratings draw in the Big Ten Conference and one of the best in the nation.

When networks made initial selections for Big Ten they'll air this season, Fox picked two Ohio State games (OSU-Indiana on Oct. 1, and Michigan-OSU on Nov. 28) as its first two selections. CBS used its first pick for Oregon-OSU on Nov. 7.

At least one Big Noon appearance seems possible for Penn State, though, perhaps as early as the home game against Wisconsin.

Notable

-- Among the national media types who have picked Penn State to make the College Football Playoff this year are ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit and Fox's Bruce Feldman. With the team's friendly schedule, they could end up being correct.

-- ESPN's College GameDay begins its annual on-site tour across the country as the best college football pregame show with a stop this week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in advance of the Clemson-LSU game. The show airs starting at 9 a.m. Saturday on ESPN.

-- Fox's on-site pregame show, Big Noon Kickoff, will originate from Bloomington, Indiana, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday. That's before the defending national champion Hoosiers host North Texas.

-- We're into the 29th year of Nittany Nation Overtime, featuring the Altoona Mirror's Neil Rudel, Mark Brennan of Lions247 and an alternating former Penn State football player each week. The show airs at 11:35 p.m. Sundays on WTAJ-TV as well as at altoonamirror.com.

-- Starting times for five Penn State games have been set, with each on a different outlet. They'll air on FS1 this week and then on ESPN2 (at Temple at noon Sept. 12), BTN (vs. Buffalo at noon Sept. 19), Fox (at Northwestern at 8 p.m. Oct. 2) and NBC (at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10 vs. USC).

Worth watching

Baylor at Auburn 3:30 p.m. Saturday ABC

Northern Illinois at Iowa 4:15 p.m. Saturday BTN

Clemson at LSU 7:30 p.m. Saturday ABC

Wisconsin at Notre Dame 7:30 p.m. Sunday NBC

Sampsell covers the broadcast end of Penn State football for Gameday. He can be reached at stevesampsell@gmail.com