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WSSU eager to share the limelight
Rams to be on ESPNU the same night Clemson will play at Wake Forest
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Published: October 8, 2008
Winston-Salem State football fans will get a rare chance to see their team play on television Thursday night with ESPNU's broadcast of the WSSU-Florida A&M game. As a bonus, it will be the Rams' first appearance in high definition.
Wake Forest will also be part of Thursday night's prime-time lineup, with its home game against Clemson scheduled for coverage on ESPN. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:30.
At ESPN, it often seems as if there's a statistic for everything. But in a break from form, the network said it doesn't keep track of when colleges from the same city play on different ESPN stations at the same time.
"That's a good question," said Michael Humes, who works in communications for the network. "I know we've had games on at the same time with schools from the same area, but I don't know if it's happened with two schools from the same city."
Humes suggested that it probably has happened more often in basketball.
"It's just the luck of the draw that it's happening now," he said.
According to Humes, ESPN (Time Warner Ch. 33, high-def Ch. 564) can reach 97 million homes, and ESPNU (Time Warner digital Ch. 143, high-def Ch. 570) can reach 21 million homes.
Over the past five seasons, WSSU has played on live TV eight times and is 6-2. Thursday's game will be Wake Forest's fifth straight on television this season, and the Deacons most likely have more TV games ahead.
Coach Kermit Blount of the Rams said he didn't realize that his team would be playing on TV the same night as the Deacons.
"I didn't think about that until I saw an ad on TV," Blount said. "That's a good thing, to have both schools on the ESPN network on the same night. I'm hoping that both teams win."
Blount said he has become a fan of Coach Jim Grobe and the Deacons.
"Every time Wake Forest plays, I pull for them, and I don't care who they are playing," Blount said. "And I'm thinking that Coach Grobe and I are in the same town, and I'm sure he hopes that we have a good season."
Grobe said that it's always good to be on TV and called the dual appearances "pretty neat."
"I think anytime you have a chance to be on ESPN is good," he said, "and to have both teams from Winston-Salem makes it pretty special.
"We're not the biggest town around, but you got some pretty good football, so it's nice to have our local teams on like that."
Blount said that being on TV helps in recruiting and markets the university to other areas of the country. "It's a different feeling being on TV for us," he said.
The Rams are 1-4 after Saturday's victory over Howard and have some momentum, but offensive lineman Joe Blanks said that the TV appearance "shouldn't change how we play. We have to come out with the same intensity and play our game."
WSSU's David Irizarry said: "It's a big challenge because we are on TV, but we can't get over-hyped. We have to take advantage of being on TV. We want to put on a good show."
Like Blount, Athletics Director Ron Wellman of Wake Forest said he didn't realize that Wake Forest and WSSU would be on ESPN stations on the same night. Wellman also said he could appreciate what a TV game means to WSSU, because Wake Forest has been in the same situation.
"I remember when we were starving to be on TV," Wellman said. "It really does put your name out there when you are on television."
Although WSSU and Wake Forest have met in basketball in recent seasons, there are no plans for the schools to meet in football. WSSU will not be a full Division I member until 2011.
"We have not talked about it," Wellman said, "but who knows what the future might hold in terms of scheduling."
Grobe said: "For us, we are not in the business of scheduling just one game, because we typically do home-and-home stuff with schools at our level. I think Elon is coming up (next year), but we don't usually have a lot of room on our schedule. It could happen with (WSSU), but there aren't a lot of slots open."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com<.
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