SF Chronicle: Jackson eager for 1st Big Game

Steve Kroner

Pick your favorite rivalry game in college football and you can be fairly certain Keith Jackson has announced it, probably more than twice.  Ohio State-Michigan. Army-Navy. USC-UCLA. Alabama-Auburn. Florida-Georgia. Texas-Oklahoma. Miami-Florida State. Jackson has been there, called them.  Of course, conspicuous by its absence from that list of rivalry games is the Big Game. Jackson gets his first crack at the Cal-Stanford matchup Saturday when he and Dan Fouts work ABC's regional telecast of the 108th edition of the Big Game.  After all these years of missing the blue and gold against the cardinal and white, what excites Jackson about his initial Big Game experience?  "I know it's a festival. I know it's a party," he said during a phone interview Wednesday. "I'm just looking forward to seeing Oski and that blasted tree."  After that good-natured mascot knocking, Jackson did get a bit serious about why he's enthused about working the Big Game.

"It's a storied history," he said. "There have been some great, great coaches and great players who've been in it. You're talking about some of the biggest names in college football."  Jackson does have a tie to one of the biggest names in Big Game history. ABC is in its 40th consecutive year of televising college football. In that first year, 1966, the color commentator who teamed with Jackson on his first game (Duke-Clemson) was Jackie Jensen, the Cal running back whose pass to Paul Keckley gave the Bears a 21-18 win at Stanford in 1947.  Fouts -- whose father, Bob, announced 49ers games -- attended a few Big Games as a kid. This will be Fouts' first Big Game as a broadcaster. He had first-hand experience in the Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State, quarterbacking the Ducks to two losses before winning a 30-3 rout in his senior season of 1972.  He said the nature of rivalry games usually leads to more -- and more dramatic -- reaction shots of players in the game and on the sideline during a telecast.  "I know that the game means so much to the players," Fouts said in another phone interview Wednesday. "You live with it the rest of your life."  Jackson and Fouts have worked four Cal games this year, but Saturday will be their first look at the Cardinal. Given that, the bulk of their preparation time this week was spent on Stanford.  After watching tape, Fouts is impressed with Cardinal quarterback Trent Edwards. "I like him," Fouts said. "I like his style, his size. I think he's very good if he can stay in the pocket an extra second."  You might have noticed during ABC telecasts this season an arrow or circle or other symbol on the screen, designating where a certain player is on the field. Fouts handles that job. He has a screen in the booth. Fouts pushes a player's number on his screen and then he moves his finger to the spot on the screen where that player is on that telecast shot.  It's a particularly helpful device with someone such as Reggie Bush, whom USC will put in several different spots. Considering it's live TV, the process can put Fouts in a difficult spot.  "At least once a game," Fouts said, "I know the director is going to say, 'Wow, what's he doing?' "  Fouts usually uses the device to identify offensive players on live action and defensive players on replays. The Cal players who will be in the system Saturday are running backs Justin Forsett and Marshawn Lynch, wide receiver DeSean Jackson, defensive lineman Nu'u Tafisi and defensive backs Donnie McCleskey and Harrison Smith. For Stanford, it's running backs Jason Evans, Anthony Kimble and J.R. Lemon, wide receiver Mark Bradford, linebackers Michael Okwo and Kevin Schimmelmann and safety Trevor Hooper.  It's not certain if Oski and that blasted tree will get the screen-identifying treatment.

Briefly: Saturday will be a double-duty afternoon for Stanford broadcaster Bob Murphy. He'll team with John Platz on the call of the Cardinal's season-opening basketball game against UC Irvine at noon, then Murphy will join Ted Robinson in the KNEW (910 AM) booth for the Big Game. ... There will be a Big Game edition of "Hooked on Golf" at 8 a.m. Saturday on KNBR (680 AM). The men's and women's coaches from Cal and Stanford are the guests. ... "Inside Baseball, the Winter Edition," premieres a week from tonight on KYCY (1550 AM). The 70-minute show, hosted by Marty Lurie, will air prior to many Cal basketball broadcasts. The first half of the show will focus on baseball, the second half on the basketball Bears.