Former coaches get in on the act in "The Blind Side"

By RAY BUCK

rbuck@star-telegram.com

Only in American can Lou Holtz generate hundreds of millions of dollars with an appearance on the big screen.

Of course, it helps to have Sandra Bullock in the same scene.

The movie is called The Blind Side, and it poignantly chronicles NFL lineman Michael Oher’s rise from childhood homelessness to getting his first bed as a teenager to achieving stardom at Ole Miss to becoming the 23rd pick of the 2009 draft (by the Baltimore Ravens).

Bullock (Leigh Anne Tuohy) and Tim McGraw (Sean Tuohy) co-star as the adoptive parents of Oher, who is played by Quinton Aaron. The movie will make you laugh and cry at the same time. It premieres next Friday.

Several other names familiar to college football fans — Nick Saban, Phillip Fulmer, Tommy Tuberville, Houston Nutt and Holtz, to name a few — are cast as themselves.

Fulmer, who has a slightly expanded role in the movie because he failed to recruit Oher to the University of Tennessee, explained that college football coaches are accustomed to being in front of a camera ... "so this really wasn’t intimidating or anything like that."

Did Bullock nail her difficult role?

"Yes, it was obvious she studied very hard to get down the looks, the toughness and the personality of Leigh Anne," Fulmer said. "[Sandra] asked me after we had shot my first scene, 'Was I tough enough?’ And I told her, 'Not really. Not even close.’ She immediately changed gears."

Warner Brothers is hopeful that The Blind Side does a lot better at the box office than did The Express: The Ernie Davis Story for Universal Pictures 13 months ago.

Tuberville is hopeful that college-football movies can become a Hollywood trend.

"There are so many stories that would probably make great movies," the former Auburn coach said. "Everybody sees what happens on Saturdays, but they don’t see behind the scenes. It’s a hard job playing college football."

Tuberville found it hardest to stand around for long periods of time between takes.

"It was fun talking to the director. He’s like the head coach on the set," said Tuberville, quickly adding, "but I don’t think any of us are going to make any money acting in the near future."

College GameDay: OK. While TCU hosts the wildly popular ESPN pregame show (9-11 a.m.), CBS College Sports (Charter Cable 290, Time Warner 195, DIRECTV 613, Dish 152 and FIOS 94) will be your only TV option to watch the actual No. 4 Horned Frogs vs. No. 16 Utah game Saturday, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

CBS College will be set up onsite at Amon G. Carter for pre- and postgame coverage, as well. Ditto for ESPN Radio.

Kirk Herbstreit hyped this first appearance of College GameDay from the Fort Worth campus by podcasting, "now TCU is in the driver’s seat," However, the ESPN/ABC featured game of the week (with Brent Musburger and Herbstreit on the call) will be No. 12 Pitt hosting unranked Notre Dame on Saturday night on ABC. (In this region, WFAA/Ch. 8 will show Texas Tech at Oklahoma State.)

Even Herbstreit wrapped up his weekly podcast by calling Utah-TCU "probably the best game in the country."

Got that right.

Check these out: NBA.com has created an "in-arena experience" for fans by inviting them into www.nba.com/tvc/info.html — and calling it NBA TV Companion. Cool graphics. No cost. ... The UT-Arlington athletic department is offering active/retired military personnel free admission into Mavericks basketball games tonight (UTA women vs. Rice, at 6) and Saturday (UTA men vs. Dallas Baptist, 7 p.m.) simply by showing military ID. ... "Ben and Skin" have relocated on your radio dial to 103.3 ESPN (6-9 p.m. weeknights).

Ray Buck, 817-390-7760

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