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🤔 Dodgy Dana. Netflix announced one of the biggest boxing matches in a while last week with Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua, but it is already in question as UFC president Dana White insists on participating as a promoter. White, who is aligned with Zuffa and Ring Magazine owner Turk Al-Sheikh, is in a dispute with Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn after Hearn claimed White was contractually banned from being involved.

🏈 Simms’ backtrack. At halftime of Oregon-USC, NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms described the scary injury to Ducks QB Dante Moore as a “Debbie Downer moment,” lamenting that fans would miss out on a top matchup. On Sunday, Simms apologized, saying he “did not show enough sympathy for the situation.”

📺 Audio issues in Knoxville. Though President Trump did not appear on College GameDay at the University of Tennessee, his presence caused significant audio issues on the ESPN broadcast of the Volunteers’ game against Texas. Trump did, however, join Clay Travis for an interview from the game.

🏀 More WNBA records. For the third straight year, ESPN celebrated its most-watched WNBA season of all time. The network aired 29 games, averaging 1.37 million viewers per game. The postseason began over the weekend, the first in many years that will not be aired entirely by the Worldwide Leader.

This NFL season is one long audition for J.J. Watt, who was thrust into the top analyst role on CBS mere weeks before the season in place of the suspended Tony Romo.

Watt managed just one practice broadcast with the legendary Jim Nantz before breaking up a near-decade long partnership between Nantz and Romo. The new partners have a 30-year age gap and a 40-year experience gap in the booth. The goofy, self-deprecating Watt is a curveball compared with the puppy dog Romo or the old-school Phil Simms.

For the first time this week in Brazil, Watt got a chance in the spotlight. CBS had, essentially, a national window in the 4:25 slot. The game featured two popular powers in Baltimore and Dallas, and went down to the wire.

Watt felt what it’s like being in the top booth of a key NFL broadcaster, where fans hang on your every word and take. The first thing everyone seemed to notice was Watt’s exuberance.

“brother why is JJ Watt SCREAMING on this Cowboys-Ravens broadcast lmao,” wrote Prime Video social media manager Jordan Zirm on X

“I’ll take Romo over Watt any day. The forced humor today is painful,” wrote Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer Josh Yohe.

It wasn’t all negative, though.

“For whatever reason, Jim Nantz seems more enthusiastic about football with JJ Watt than with Tony Romo,” wrote Front Office Sports media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel.

Others appreciated Watt’s energy but felt there was something missing from his feel for television.

“Romo had a much better feel for television and for how to pounce on a big moment (it was all he had at the end),” wrote The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis. “Watt's got work to do to learn those skills.”

What’s clear beneath all of that, though, is that Watt is prepared and can articulate the football side. He may not be at the level of Fox’s Tom Brady or Troy Aikman in this regard, but his experience as a defensive star and in the trenches is informative, and he isn’t afraid to share opinions about the officiating or play-calling (which some recently retired players are afraid to do).

Where Watt could catch up to Romo and others is with improved situational awareness. The best game analysts in all sports have a keen sense of time and situation. They rise to the biggest moments naturally. As the lead flipped between Dallas and Baltimore late on Sunday, Watt got loud but lacked focus. The reactions occasionally felt forced.

The season holds extra weight because, if CBS replaces Romo as is widely expected, it needs to feel good about the substitute in time for next season’s Super Bowl. Sunday in Rio de Janeiro was as close as Watt has gotten to a Super Bowl feel as an analyst. The early marks are strong, given he is still green. But the ability to feel and articulate the inflection points of the biggest games is what separates the best analysts, and Watt came up somewhat short in his first test.

Is College GameDay actually worse — or just different?

Front Office Sports editor Ben Axelrod joined our talk show, The Play-By-Play LIVE on Friday to discuss the show everyone in sports media is debating this fall.

Plus, Axelrod’s return to the show means it’s time once again to talk about Cleveland: LeBron James, Deshaun Watson and Michael Lombardi.

Watch the episode on YouTube, or listen on Spotify or Apple.

After a reporter near State College, Penn., posted a photo on X showing the thin showing for the Nittany Lions’ important Big Ten clash over the weekend, our Ben Koo unspooled a take on waning college football attendance.

Here’s a peak at our Slack conversation from the weekend (touched up a bit for print):

As the powers to steer us towards a 24-team playoff with more television money in mind, college football fans should keep an eye on attendance.

Several schools that had no issue filling up their mammoth stadiums are starting to see empty seasons with some regularity. Ultimately, it's a lot of factors. Conference realignment has non-regional matchups with teams that schools have no history with and are too far away for visiting fans to help fill some seats. NIL and the transfer portal have diluted the familiarity fans have with their teams. Prices have gone up, with many families priced out. Students seem to be ok arriving late and leaving early. With 2-3 losses now okay to make the playoff, and perhaps soon 3-4, the peril of the regular season is no longer that much of a thing. You don't have to be there. You can stay at home and avoid the weather and the costs.

College football has been chasing more money unabated for a few decades now. Will it now catch up to them in the form of empty seats and missing ticketing and concession revenue?

“I guess if you’re interested in winning football games, and you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon. If you want to go to a Chris Brown concert, go here.” - Oregon coach Dan Lanning, taking a cruel victory lap after again beating USC despite the scary exit of his star quarterback from the Coliseum field.

“I’m so sure about this game, that if Missouri loses, I will punish myself by listening to Pat McAfee’s new album on repeat until Halloween.” - College GameDay guest picker Johnny Knoxville, becoming the first person around ESPN to not kiss McAfee’s butt about his country album.

“I’m actually kind of embarrassed. There’s a lot of grandmas at home that probably aren’t very happy with my mouth on Fox. I’m gonna fix that.” - Fox’s Tom Brady, remorseful after dropping an “oh sh*t” while breaking down Jayden Daniels’ elbow injury.

“Fans are often convinced we have vendettas against the team for which they root. Sometimes we need to be critical and it is not well-received. More than anyone working today, Ken has weathered that.” - ESPN’s Jeff Passan, looking back on Ken Rosenthal’s much maligned dust-up with a cameraman last year on air.

“If I burn one of these coaches or players who have told me something in confidence, and I twist it the wrong way, or I attribute it to them when they didn’t want it attributed to them, then it’s over.” - NBC’s Cris Collinsworth, detailing the “dance” of what is on vs. off the record in production meetings as an NFL announcer.

“Ultimately, the circumvention was because that guy was worth more than they could pay. So if he’s worth more than they could pay, why can’t he make that?” - Draymond Green, arguing for the NBA to abolish the salary cap in response to the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard scandal.

To the uninitiated, the ongoing saga of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury may look like a mess of pettiness and confusion.

The matchup, nearly a decade in the making, seemed to have reached critical mass, with Saudi businessman Turki Al-Sheikh providing the necessary paychecks to finally bring the two parties together in the ring. While no formal announcements had been made, a deal seemed to be done for the fight before roadblocks began to appear, first the venue and now the inclusion of Dana White in the promotion of the event.

Click to read more from Awful Announcing contributor Robert Joyner on why the pride of Dana White and Eddie Hearn could be getting in the way of boxing’s future.