I'm not trying to pick a fight with you but from the made up statement, 'announcers are told not to tell the score to hold the audience' to the assumption there is this big professional production team behind ND's radio broadcast, you don't have clue what you are talking about. I doubt you have ever listened to the radio broadcast, assume way too much about the South Bend/ND media market nor understand the rampant cronyism( not atypical for private universities) that exists around Notre Dame. It isn't about competence, it is about who you know. Keep in mind that ND fired Tony Roberts who was one of the best radio announcers around because in their view, he wasn't enough a homer.
ND's radio broadcast is produced out of South Bend and there isn't a hoard of professionals behind it. If ever watched WNDU, you'd understand. There is a producer and maybe an associate producer. There isn't a cast of thousands behind the scenes and a good chunk of whatever staff there are students or local hanger-oners. It is a small media market with local staff and standards. These are not high level professionals. I don't say that to be mean as opposed to the fact it is small market media with small market budgets. You don't find high caliber media types flocking to South Bend to get air time. There isn't a lot of money here and the budgets and broadcast reflect it. That isn't a complaint just an acceptance of what the reality is.
While I don't worry about excellence I do expect competence. As I have simply stated, Criqui is a bad radio announcer. Personally, I think he is just a tv guy who has never made the transition to understanding radio. He didn't get his job for his excellence as opposed to his long affiliations with ND (typical ND cronyism) and he probably loves it and comes cheap. Criqui is palatable to high level ND types which is what really matters. He rarely relates down and distance ( a key to radio football broadcasting) three plays can be run and all of a sudden it is 1st and 10 (or 4th and 3) and you have no idea what happened, who ran the ball (which he frequently gets wrong), who caught the pass, in what direction., etc, etc. Criqui has been bad for years, the few real media professionals around the program know it but it isn't important enough (i.e., there isn't much money in it) to exert an effort to worry about it. With the new media partner involved, it is a good time to change.