Where will you be watching the Allstate BCS Championship Game on Monday (8:30 p.m ET, ESPN, ESPN 3D, ESPN3)?
Where ever you are, Remote Production Director Derek Mobley will use an army of ESPN’s cameras in New Orleans to give you the best seat in the house.
While the LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide battle it out in the Mercedes Benz Superdome, Mobley will be inside the production truck bringing the action to millions of viewers across the country and the world.
Mobley explains the production team’s plans to cover the game and how the expected defensive contest will play into what is delivered on television.
FR: What will be the major differences between how the game was covered last year [Auburn defeated Oregon, 22-19, for the BCS title] and how you plan to cover the game this year? Have the defensive strengths of both LSU and Alabama played a factor in the production plans for the telecast?
Mobley: Last year’s game featured two up-tempo teams, so they ran maybe 30 more plays than the average offense. The teams snapped the ball much faster, which made it more difficult to get in graphics and replays. With the teams this year, it’s a more defensive battle. Normally you focus more attention on the offenses. This year we will focus a lot on defenses. We will have cameras on specific defensive players, we will prepare for a lower scoring game and focus on how the special teams and punters will affect the game.
FR: Are there any other factors that have caused you to change your plans for the game?
Mobley: One thing that is different this year is that there is an NFC Wild Card Game [televised by NBC] in the Superdome on [Saturday, Jan. 7]. Normally we would bring our production trucks in on Friday. Set up the trucks and the set on the 7th and then [Sunday] the 8th. Rehearse on the 8th and do the game on the 9th. We do that because of the size of the show and what it takes to set everything up. We are going to have to compress three days of set-up into one. We have a good plan. Our technical crew has a good plan, but it is going to take a lot of effort on everybody’s part to make that happen.
