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Irish Football: NBC Puts Mike Mayock on the Field and Doug Flutie in the Booth for the Northwestern Game

That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

Play-by-play man Dan Hicks better be on his game tomorrow.
Play-by-play man Dan Hicks better be on his game tomorrow.
Mike Ehrmann

On Wednesday the NBC Sports Group released a statement telling the world that color commentator Mike Mayock will be moving to the field while Doug Flutie swaps positions and heads up to the booth.

"Mike is one of the top Xs-and-Os commentators in football. The sideline analyst role will allow him to dissect the game from field level and present his findings to viewers at strategic times throughout the broadcast," said Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports & NBCSN. "Doug is synonymous with college football and is an experienced booth analyst. We're excited to see how this new arrangement plays out on Saturday."

We're excited too. So much so that we spent the past 36 hours working on a time machine and were able to provide our readers with a sneak peek at the new arrangement for Saturday. We pick things up late in the second quarter with Notre Dame leading 14-3 after scoring a touchdown.

*****

hicks
Welcome back to the game. I'm not Jim Nantz.

mayock1
Both teams are lined up in traditional kickoff formations down here.

hicks Okay, thank you Mike. And Kyle Brindza sails the ball through the end zone for a touchback.

flutie
I talked to Brian Kelly this week and he really wanted Brindza to focus more on kickoff placement.

hicks First down upcoming for the Wildcats.

nbc
Run the golf promo.

hicks On December 4th don't forget to check out the first round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament from Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Windermere, Florida. That's one of my favorites of the year and I'm looking forward to covering it for NBC.

mayock1 Northwestern lining up with 3 wide receivers, you guys.

nbc Mike, you don't need to announce every formation.

hicks Siemian takes the snap, he's pressured, and throws it away.

mayock1 Wow, did you see Day number ninety-one flash on that play? Watch him stunt...

nbc We're not running the replay yet! You're not in the booth!

mayock1 ...and defeat his block to pressure the quarterback. Great football play, man.

hicks Northwestern hustling to the line on second down.

mayock1 They're moving quickly down here, guys.

hicks Siemian finds Jones across the middle for 9 yards. The clock is running and Northwestern only has one timeout.

flutie During our meetings this week I talked...

mayock1 I'm down here on the sidelines, guys. And I have to tell you the wind is really starting to howl. I'm standing on the west side of the stadium, what's it like on the other side Kathryn?

tappen
Oh, it's really...

mayock1 QUICK SNAP!

hicks They don't get it. I don't think Siemian picked up the first on the quarterback sneak.

mayock2
Now, hang on a second. I was right in line with that snap and I think he got this.

hicks Looks like they're going to take a look at this up in the booth.

mayock2 I think he got it, Dan.

flutie This was a nice play-call by Northwestern. You've got a six-three quarterback with...

mayock2 Now I've pulled up the NBC Sports Mobile Live Extra app on my phone. This is pretty cool.

nbc The replays look like he's about half a yard short.

mayock2 You see there's a second effort by Siemian where he lunges forward. I thought watching it live he moved the ball past the marker where I'm standing on the sideline. Yeah, that definitely looks like a first down to me.

hicks And here comes the call from the head official. And the call on the field stands. Fourth down.

mayock2 Wow.

hicks Niswander back to punt, and the ball goes out of bounds at the Notre Dame 38-yard line. So now the Irish take over with one twenty four left to play in the half.

flutie We'll see if Notre Dame tries to put something together here before halftime.  In talking with Brian Kelly he hinted they might try to grab some points in this type of situation using Golson's arm.

hicks Golson drops back to pass and hits Fuller. Twists around! Still running. And pushed out of bounds inside Northwestern territory.

mayock1 Do you know what kind of player Fuller is, Dan?

hicks First and 10 from the 42-yard line. The clock starts to run after they move the chains.

nbc Don't say it, Mike.

mayock1 I'm just so impressed with Fuller's progress this year. Fuller is a dude.

hicks Under 50 seconds left now. Here comes the snap. Golson looking around. Squirts through a crowd.

mayock1 Look out!

hicks Fires the ball down the sideline. And just too far out of bounds.

mayock1 What'd you see on that play, Doug?

flutie Good coverage down field by Northwestern.

mayock1 I thought so too. But down here on the field I also thought Golson had the big tight end coming across the field. It looked like that opened up at the last moment.

hicks Thirty two seconds left in the half. Here's a hand-off to Folston and he breaks through for seven yards. The clock is ticking and the Irish are out of timeouts.

mayock1 Gotta hurry up and get a play off here.

hicks Here's a quick snap. Seventeen seconds left. Golson quickly surveys and fires the ball. Touchdown! He found Robinson down the seam for the score!

nbc Cut to David Robinson!

mayock1 Wow, tremendous throw.

flutie Great drive to finish the half.

nbc Now another shot of David Robinson!

hicks Notre Dame takes the twenty to three lead with eight seconds left in the half.

mayock1 Wow, I saw Robinson cutting towards the goal posts and from down here on the field I wasn't sure the window was big enough to fit the ball through.

hicks Golson did it.

mayock3
This is fun! Isn't this fun!?