The miracle touchdown catch by Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr. last weekend against Penn State may go down as the biggest play of the entire college football season, but for some, the moment was disrupted by the call from Fox’s Gus Johnson.
Always very exuberant as the lead announcer for Big Noon Saturday games, Johnson went to another level calling Cooper’s big catch.
As Cooper caught the ball, Johnson let out an unintelligible burst that sounded like “he’s out.” Johnson’s voice cracked as he crescendoed to meet the moment. The only problem was that it stayed in a raspy falsetto throughout the rest of his touchdown call.
What proved to be a game-winning and potential season-saving catch by Cooper was overshadowed on the broadcast by a high-pitched Johnson shouting, “Wow! Omar Cooper! Unbelievable!”
This week, Johnson’s longtime broadcast partner, Joel Klatt, weighed in on the call. Klatt revealed on the Pardon My Take podcast that Johnson had a cold (something Johnson himself admitted as well). It was the first time Klatt had ever heard Johnson “crack” on a call, but Klatt believes the “pure emotion” that Johnson brings to the microphone still came through for Big Ten fans watching at home.
“I’ve worked with him for 11 years, and I’ve never heard him crack. I knew he was struggling a little bit with a cold last week. And then I didn’t hear it all game,” Klatt said. “When that play happened, there was two thoughts. One, I was like, there’s no way (Cooper) is in bounds. And two, I was like, oh, he cracked right there.”
Of course, Klatt is not going to rip his partner and buddy. The rest of the sports media have done plenty of that.
Johnson is a very polarizing announcer, and often in the spotlight with Fox’s national midday window, getting a ton of eyeballs each week. Even the calls he screeches out in his regular voice can bother fans.
But Klatt believes Johnson’s broadcasting style is more authentic than other vanilla announcers, even if it occasionally gets him in trouble, like it did in Happy Valley.
“Here’s what I love working with Gus is, we all watch and consume sports all the time,” Klatt explained. “Everyone has like a prepared call, ready to go. And that’s great, and it can be iconic. There’s no doubt. Gus reacts with pure emotion in the moment, just like you’re sitting on the couch with (him), and I think that’s what resonates. And that’s what you heard on Saturday.”