When I think of the time I spent intensely covering college football — seven years in Tallahassee, four in Michigan— the image that comes to mind occurred with me driving down to Gainesville on a beautifully sunny Saturday morning, GameDay on ESPN Radio and in front of me, an overloaded car with Auburn flags, colors, balloons and fans sipping the sauce already, honking the hell out of their car horn, headed full steam ahead down I-75 for Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
As I watched and fed off their excitement — it was a weekend I got to cover the Gators for a change — a full car loaded with Gator fans, banners flying, fake Gator on the roof, orange and blue everywhere — passed me on the right going about 80. As I saw them pull up alongside the Auburn car, I expected it would get ugly. But it didn’t.
The Gator car started honking its horn almost in time with the Auburn car, both horns blowing, arms waving out the window, pumping fists, thumping the roof of the car, the two cars stuffed with occupants headed for a college football game! They drove side-by-side for miles like that. Damn, how exciting!
As I recall, Auburn upset the Gators that Saturday afternoon, so I imagine the ride back home to the plains featured more of the same. As someone who grew up in New England where college football didn’t really fire up anybody — if you saw the University of New Hampshire football, you’d understand why — the jubilation I saw on a Saturday morning was truly something to celebrate and marvel at. That moment has stuck with me all these years.
Raised on rivalries — Red Sox vs. Yankees, Celtics vs. Lakers, Bruins vs. Canadiens, (The Patriots weren’t all that good, then) — it was surprising and somehow genuine to see two sets of opposing fans, who would likely be in each other’s faces in a few hours, sharing their absolute joy in getting to experience a college football Saturday together. That kind of moment seems so far from where we are now as a country, doesn’t it?
It may be because that image has lingered in my head all these years that the one pregame show I almost always catch is ESPN’s Gameday. To me at least, it offers that same burst of excitement and enthusiasm every Saturday morning, seeing those enormous, crazily enthusiastic fans, the signs — whetting your appetite for that day’s slate of games. It’s fun, uplifting, you don’t want to miss it.
That sense of joy, of Christmas-morning type anticipation for what wonders will show up on America’s gridirons that day seems to permeate every member of the crew. Still. I had the chance to do a sit-down interview with Lee Corso once and he was laughing as he told me about his job.
“And they’re PAYING me to do this,” he grinned, “This is the best job of my life. It’s just unbelievable.” After my story on him ran in the Tallahassee Democrat, he spotted me on the floor of the Sugar Bowl at a Florida State practice. He motioned me over for an exclusive.
“Nobody knows this,” he whispered, “Bobby and I are both going for undefeated seasons. I’ve never had one. He’s never had one.” He got every pick correct that year on GameDay. And Bobby won himself a second title.
All these years later, Corso, age 89, is STILL on the show, still donning the headgear for the show’s closing pick. It’s part-carnival barker, part-showman, all in good fun.
As for the three-hour show, not everyone is keen on the addition of Pat McAfee, perhaps the most famous punter in history. Which may be his goal, who knows? I knew he was destined to be a regular when I saw him jump into the water in his three-piece suit, a while back. There’s another good college football image for you to remember. What are College Football Saturdays like? There you go. He’s nuts but fun.
The addition of the fan-kick-a-field-goal is also a fun gimmick, the celebrity pickers are sometimes questionable but the regulars, Desmond Howard (whom I covered back when he was a player at Michigan), former Ohio State QB Kirk Herbstreit and host Rece Davis, who has succeeded original host Chris Fowler fabulously well, they all arrive on Saturday mornings fired up, ready to hit the blocking sled.
The addition of recently retired Alabama coach/dictator Nick Saban has gone smoothly and Saban’s recent off-color comment about a poor NIL choice leaving you “shit out of luck” seemed to endear him to everyone. (Hope he wasn’t talking about Florida State.) He’s deadly serious most of the time but maybe some time next to McAfee will change that.
As for me, generally speaking, I’m not big on the weeper clips; some sad story about what a player had to overcome to get where he is but overcoming obstacles is a part of the sport, no doubt about it. Sometimes they really overdo it.
And as for their journalism, well, there are plenty of things to dislike about college football at the moment and there are things to talk about. How can anybody in their right mind think the transfer portal is good for the future of the game? Think about the outrageous amounts of NIL money out there. These ridiculous changing conferences, schools threatening to leave, coaches getting fired, etc. GameDay, I think, handles them fairly well.
Florida State fans certainly weren’t happy that the GameDay crew took the SEC party line regarding the playoffs last year when the team’s won-lost record certainly merited inclusion. But the team wasn’t anywhere near the same without Jordan Travis, that much was clear.
Any sport that draws this kind of intensity, you’re going to piss people off by taking a stand one way or the other. I certainly understood the committee’s decision — even if I didn’t agree with it. Did FSU earn that chance? Yes.
This is College GameDay’s 31st season on the road, Lee Corso is going on his 402nd headgear pick, the show averaged 2.0 million viewers every Saturday last year. Considering this show has been running for such a long time, it’s amazing that it hasn’t lost steam. On the contrary, it seems to be picking up speed.
Just like that Gator car I spotted on I-75 all those years ago, whipping through the right lane to catch up with those Auburn fans on a flawless Saturday morning headed to a college football game.