University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Cal Football Game Selected For Thursday Night ESPN
5/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Cal Football Game Selected For Thursday Night ESPN HATTIESBURG, Miss. ?
"This is another great opportunity to showcase Southern Miss on the national stage," Giannini said. "While we prefer to play games on Saturdays, the reality is for us to maximize revenue and exposure opportunities, we must play on non-traditional days".
This gives the Golden Eagles three games which will air on either ESPN or ESPN2 for the 2004 season. The Houston game on Oct. 7 also will be a Thursday night ESPN2 contest in Hattiesburg and the Memphis game on Friday, Nov. 12 at the Liberty Bowl will air on ESPN2.
Cal has 16 starters returning this season and has been ranked between Nos. 11 and 15 in various preseason polls released at this time. The Bears finished 8-6 last year and won five of their last six games, incluidng a victory over national champion USC and a bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Cal is led by All-American wide receiver Geoff McArthur, All-Pac 10 quarterback Aaron Rodgers and first-team All-Pac 10 defensive back Dominic McCleskey. McArthur finished with 85 catches for 1,504 yards and scored 10 touchdowns. Rodgers completed 215-of-349 passes for 2,903 yards and threw for 19 touchdowns. McCleskey
During the 2003 football season, the Golden Eagles played two times on ESPN's coveted Thursday time slot; against Nebraska and TCU. Those games garnered the highest ratings for the network for Conference USA schools and ranked 13th and 14th out of 107 national broadcasts, where approximately two million households viewed each game.
