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Summerall hits some rough patches in Cotton Bowl booth
By JEFFREY FLANAGANThe Kansas City Star
The biggest worry was maybe how Pat Summerall would handle play-by-play duties on Fox.
Summerall is one of the legends of the booth, but age and health issues have taken their toll, and one was hoping that he wouldn’t slip too badly in the booth.
Well, Summerall wasn’t awful, but he understandably had his troubles.
•••
“Arkansas looks a little rusty.”
| Summerall
JF: Who was rusty?
•••
“Here’s (Darren) McFadden to throw it ...”
| Summerall, as Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick threw the ball.
“McFadden gets near the first down. Maybe not quite enough.”
| Summerall, as McFadden came up nearly 3 yards short of a first down.
“(Tony) Temple hit at the line of scrimmage, no gain.”
| Summerall, as Temple drove for 2 yards
“There’s a handoff to Temple … oh, (Chase) Daniel keeps it.”
| Summerall
“No intentional grounding there.”
| CBS’ Brian Baldinger, who hadn’t finished the sentence when the officials threw a flag for intentional grounding.
“Temple goes over 100 yards for the day … that wasn’t Temple. That was Jackson.”
| Summerall
“Pass to (Jeremy) Maclin. Complete, but he dropped it … beg your pardon … he didn’t drop it.”
| Summerall
“This Felix Jones is a better pure runner than McFadden.”
| Baldinger
“I don’t understand … same play. I’m confused.”
| Summerall
JF: Summerall was right on this one as Arkansas strangely called similar gadget plays that busted on third and fourth downs in the first half.
•••
“People thought he wasn’t tall enough. But he’s had just three (passes) deflected.”
| Summerall
JF: Right again. Daniel is a master at creating his own passing lanes.
•••
“What a New Year’s Day (Temple) has had. He’ll remember this day the rest of his life.”
| Baldinger, on Temple’s 281-yard, four-touchdown performance.
“They’re carrying Temple off the field, not because they’re celebrating, but because he pulled a hamstring on that last play.”
| Summerall
“Chase Daniel has had time to throw on every down … except a couple.”
| Summerall
JF: Huh?
•••
“The pass is intercepted, but they gave it right back (on a fumble) … almost. Well, yes they did.”
| Summerall
“This is a program, under Gary Pinkel, that is in such great shape.”
| Baldinger
JF: It is in great shape, but that still won’t matter to the anti-Pinkel Missouri fans.
•••
“No matter what your loyalty (to a school) was today, Missouri was the far superior team.”
| Summerall, who attended Arkansas