Analysts sounded off about the Dolphins on conference calls this week. Some of the feedback:

• NBC's John Madden: ``I've always liked Chad Pennington. If you surround him with a pretty good team, he's going to be a winner. I saw them in preseason a couple times, and I was impressed with them as being solid.

``They were a little helter-skelter the last two years. When you see them now, they look like a disciplined team. They look like they know who they are and what they're doing.''

• NBC's Cris Collinsworth: ``The major story is not Chad Pennington, it's Ricky Williams. Ted Ginn is making some plays we haven't seen him make. Pennington is not going to give the game away. He's a professional quarterback. They have not had professional quarterback play there for the past two, three, four years, at least.''

• CBS' Phil Simms: ``The Dolphins might have a bad year record-wise, but, to me, there's no doubt they've already turned their franchise around. They are stout on the defensive line. They made a tremendous move getting Pennington, and Chad Henne was a steal going that late in the second round. He is absolutely a first-round

talent.''

• CBS' Dan Marino: ``It's like they're playing at a different speed, especially defensively. They're really getting after the quarterback. [And] you've got a quarterback that brings some credibility.''

• Fox analyst and former Ravens coach Brian Billick, who was on the losing sideline during Miami's one win last season: ``You've got to figure they will play solid defense. A team that could approach .500 would be a big accomplishment for them.''

• ESPN's Tom Jackson said both the offensive and defensive lines are upgraded but envisions only five wins as realistic.

MORE FOOTBALL

CBS is sending Sunday's Dolphins game to 63 percent of the country and said it switched lead announcing team Jim Nantz and Simms from New England-Kansas City to Jets-Dolphins for one reason: Brett Favre.

• Kirk Herbstreit, who will call the UM-UF game with Brent Musburger on ESPN, said, off-air, the Canes ''are going to struggle in the Swamp with a young team'' but that UM's season will rest partly on the Sept. 20 game at Texas A&M: ``If they win that game, that can set them up to be a surprise team at 2-1.''

• Viewers will have several appealing choices for NFL highlights at 7 p.m. Sundays -- Chris Berman and Jackson on ESPN; Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Bob Costas and a cast of thousands on NBC; and Fox's rollicking studio show on weeks it has doubleheaders.

Patrick, who joins NBC this season, said Costas suggested a Patrick/Olbermann reunion. ''Bob will do fewer highlights, [but] he is not ever opposed to having more people around if it makes the show better,'' NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.

The dynamic Olbermann-Patrick SportsCenter pairing ended on ESPN 11 years ago when Olbermann left for Fox. (He now hosts a show on MSNBC). 'When Keith left, I said, `You'll never get this again,' '' Patrick said. ``We never tried to understand why it worked. It just did.''

Still, seven hosts/commentators on a pregame show is clearly excessive. If there were any more people in the studio, NBC would be violating the fire code.

''My major concern was we didn't have enough people on the show last year,'' Olbermann cracked. ``We really needed that 19th guy.''

Ebersol isn't worried: ``Dan and Keith will do [nearly all] the highlights straight through until 8. There will be nobody going to the locker room during the show. All the mikes will be left open.''

ESPN will be permitted to air only six minutes of NFL highlights during the Berman-anchored 7 p.m. SportsCenter. NBC can air unlimited highlights. Fox can air unlimited highlights if its 4:15 p.m. games end after 7:30 -- otherwise, it is restricted to a 10-minute window.

''I'm sure [Olbermann and Patrick] will do a good show, too,'' Berman said. ``But we did a pretty good job in our time. [NFL PrimeTime] probably would be the first sentence on my TV tombstone.''

• Former UM star Warren Sapp begins two gigs next week: 1) with Spero Dedes, Marshall Faulk and Adam Schefter on NFL Network's new pregame show at 10 a.m. Sundays; and 2) with James Brown, Collinsworth and Simms on Inside the NFL, which airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

• ESPN Classic and NBA TV will air the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies (the Heat's Pat Riley

is one of the inductees) at

7:30 p.m. Friday. ESPN2 will carry an abridged version at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. . . . Lamar Thomas headlines 790 The Ticket's new UM postgame shows opposite WQAM's.

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