It’s Biggest Game Week for Norrie

Three years ago, when David Norrie was named the UCLA football radio commentator, it came as a surprise.

Norrie, who works in commercial real estate, had no previous broadcasting experience and wasn’t really a big name among UCLA quarterbacks.

He was a starter for only one season, 1985, although he led the Pacific 10 in passing efficiency that year and also led the Bruins to their last Rose Bowl appearance. However, a leg injury kept him from playing in UCLA’s 45-28 victory over Iowa. Matt Stevens was the quarterback on New Year’s Day.

But despite Norrie’s lack of experience and marquee value, it has turned out that he was the right man for the job. His delivery is professional, he works well with play-by-play partner Chris Roberts, and his analysis is usually accurate.

If there is a negative, it is that Norrie tends to over-analyze, particularly when talking about the play of the quarterbacks.

Norrie doesn’t disagree with that criticism.

“I’ve listened to tapes, and there have been times I have talked too much,” he said. “I’ve made a conscious effort of pulling in the reins.”

Overall, Norrie has done remarkably well for someone who learned the business by going to Roy Englebrecht’s one-week summer sportscasting camp.

Saturday, he and Roberts, who is in his second year as the radio play-by-play announcer for UCLA, face the biggest game of their young careers when the Bruins play USC with the Rose Bowl on the line.

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Add Norrie: USC-UCLA week brings back vivid memories.

As a redshirt freshman in 1982, Norrie was the Bruins’ third-string quarterback behind Tom Ramsey, now Prime Ticket’s UCLA commentator, and Rick Neuheisel, who now coaches the Bruin receivers.

Neuheisel, the holder on kicks, picked up a bad snap on an extra-point attempt, got hit by USC’s Troy West and suffered a shoulder injury. And then Ramsey got knocked out on a third-down play late in the game.

The Bruins punted on fourth down, and Norrie started warming up.

“I was so nervous, it was unbelievable,” he said.

USC marched slowly down the field and scored in the final seconds, making the score UCLA 20, USC 19. UCLA’s Karl Morgan broke through and sacked USC’s Scott Tinsley on the two-point conversion try, and the score stood.

Norrie, breathing a sigh of relief, never got into the game.

As a senior in 1985, though, he was the starter.

“What I remember most about the days leading up to the game was how fast the week went,” he said.

UCLA lost that game, 17-13, mainly because of a first-and-goal fumble by Eric Ball.

“(USC linebacker) Marcus Cotton grabbed the ball out of midair and would have gone all the way for a touchdown if I hadn’t tackled him at the 10-yard line,” Norrie said.

USC’s quarterback in the game was a freshman named Rodney Peete, who was a guest on KMPC with Joe McDonnell and Norrie on Wednesday.

“You know, I had never met Rodney Peete, but we talked as if we’d been longtime friends,” Norrie said. “I think there is a certain bond among guys who have played in that game, whether for UCLA or USC.”

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Even though this USC-UCLA game is the biggest since the 1988 game pitted Peete against Troy Aikman with the Rose Bowl berth at stake, ABC is not televising it nationally.

It is one of four regional telecasts at 12:30 p.m., after the national telecast of Ohio State-Michigan.

Miami-West Virginia will be shown to 48% of the country, with USC-UCLA going to 27%. Illinois-Wisconsin and Colorado State-Wyoming are the other regional telecasts. One or more of the regional games are available on pay-per-view on some cable systems.

Alabama-Auburn on Saturday is not being televised because Auburn is on probation.

The USC-UCLA announcers will be Tim Brant and Mark Jones, who have done most of the UCLA and USC games that ABC has televised this season.

The No. 1 team of Keith Jackson and Bob Griese will work the Ohio State-Michigan game, with Brent Musburger and Dick Vermeil handling Miami-West Virginia.

During the UCLA-USC telecast, highlights from many of the 21 previous USC-UCLA games with the Rose Bowl on the line will be interspersed throughout the telecast. ABC’s game producer, Joel Feld, who lives in Tarzana, said he got the idea from a Times story in Monday’s editions.

ABC’s Frank Gifford, a former USC All-American, is being honored by USC in a pregame ceremony, and that will be taped and shown sometime during the game, Feld said.

TV-Radio Notes

Besides KMPC’s broadcast, Saturday’s UCLA-USC game will also be carried by Trojan flagship station KNX, with Pete Arbogast and Fred Gallagher reporting. . . . KMPC, which is carrying stretch calls and the feature race from Hollywood Park, will have a new one-hour show devoted to horse racing. Nothing wrong with that, but why would the station schedule the debut of “California Thoroughbred Digest” with Mike Willman for Saturday at 9 a.m.? That puts it right in the middle of the station’s UCLA-USC pregame coverage, which begins at 6 a.m. with Brian Golden and Mike Lamb doing their “Football Saturday” from Julie’s restaurant. However, Willman will try to keep the USC-UCLA theme going with former UCLA quarterback Billy Kilmer as one of his guests. Another is jockey Eddie Delahoussaye.

At 10 a.m., after the horse racing show on KMPC, Lamb, a former USC lineman, and Larry Kahn will go back to college football, leading into “Bruin Warm-up” at noon. . . . Television replays of the UCLA-USC game will be shown by Prime Ticket Saturday at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 10:45 p.m. Because it is USC’s home game, the cable network’s USC announcers, Tom Kelly and Craig Fertig, will call the action.

CBS will televise the final two rounds of the Franklin Funds Shark Shootout from Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks on Saturday, live at 12:30 p.m., and Sunday, delayed at 1:30 p.m. after the Chicago-Kansas City football game and a half-hour postgame report. Jim Nantz, Ben Wright, Gary McCord, Peter Kostis and Maury Povich provide the commentary. Los Angeles gets another dose of CBS newcomer Matt Millen, who worked the Green Bay-New Orleans telecast last Sunday and will work the Bear-Chief telecast this Sunday. Millen has the makings of a good commentator, but he needs to take it down a couple of octaves. He sounds as if he went to the Dan Dierdorf school of broadcasting.

The ESPN NFL game Sunday at 5 p.m. is Minnesota at Tampa Bay, which will feature Viking quarterback Sean Salisbury, a former Trojan. . . . Former USC and current Bear free safety Mark Carrier is getting a head start on a broadcasting career. He has been doing commentary on high school football games on cable television in the Chicago area.

Jim McKay this week was named the studio host for ABC’s coverage of the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. . . . ESPN will have live coverage of the World Cup draw from Las Vegas on Sunday, Dec. 19, at noon. . . . ESPN and ABC will televise the 52-game tournament, with ESPN covering 41 games, beginning with the United States’ first-round game on June 17.

Thanksgiving charity: Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza and Rickey Henderson will be making appearances on Prime Ticket’s “Press Box” every night next week beginning Tuesday to solicit American Red Cross donations and support for fire victims. . . . KMPC’s Charlie Tuna will be broadcasting from the Corbin Bowl in Tarzana next Wednesday morning and asking listeners to bring in canned food, unwrapped toys, clothing and other donations for the Salvation Army to pass on to fire victims and other needy families. . . . XTRA’s annual “Operation Relief” at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium begins today and runs through Sunday’s Raider-Charger game. The station is asking listeners to bring donations of non-perishable food, clothing and over-the-counter medication and leave them in drop areas in parking area D2 and, on Sunday, at turnstile entrances. Last year, donations filled two 44-foot moving vans.