BLOOMINGTON — It was a simple question, followed by a simple answer.
“Why would you wait outside almost a full day for ESPN’s College GameDay?”
“Why would I not?”
“There’s quite literally nowhere else I’d rather be than be here right now.”
For the biggest games of every IU men’s basketball season at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, students will line up very early to get a good spot near the front of the student section. That’s a much rarer sight for Indiana football, but with its 7-0 start, everything about this program continues to change.
IU junior Sam Foley drove by Memorial Stadium at 7:30 a.m. Friday, expecting a crowd already forming a line for the GameDay pit. Nobody was there. He drove by again around 10 a.m., and still, no fans lingered. So he drove to the College Mall, bought some water, snacks, and other supplies, drove back to the IU athletic complex around 11 a.m. and set up a folding chair on the sidewalk on E. 17th St.
Foley was the first student in line for the first-ever Saturday College GameDay in Bloomington ahead of IU’s game against Washington. He didn’t think he’d be the first one there — he just wanted to get a spot in line.
“I was kind of surprised, cause my friends back home, they started getting me nervous, they were like telling me people were going to stay here last night,” Foley told The Daily Hoosier. “And I was like, ‘Shoot. Maybe I have to go up (Thursday) night.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ Two nights, I can’t do that. But then I came back and nobody’s here.”
Senior Daniel Tauberman arrived shortly after Foley. They didn’t know each other, but they knew they’d have plenty of time to get acquainted. Fans won’t be allowed into the pit area behind the GameDay set until 6:30 a.m. Saturday, with the show going live at 9 a.m.
Tauberman, like Foley, came prepared. He also had a lawn chair, along with a portable charger, board games, food, and a friend coming later in the day with a sleeping bag and a football.
He also had an umbrella, which came in handy when a light rain passed through Friday early in the afternoon. But the weather wouldn’t deter Tauberman.
“It means f—ing nothing. Been through it before. My roommate brought my umbrella. I’m used to it. I think it was for the Purdue (basketball) game a couple years ago, it was like, freezing rain they had, and they basically just took their tarp, put it over them,” Tauberman said. “This is light rain.”
While IU could have other big football games at Memorial Stadium the rest of the season, and potentially next year and beyond, this is the only time College GameDay will be in town this year — and with a show so popular, there’s no guarantee it would come back anytime soon.
This is the second time GameDay has appeared in Bloomington, but as host Rece Davis made clear while talking to local media on Friday, ‘there’s an asterisk’ on that show. GameDay came in 2017 ahead of the Thursday night season-opener against Ohio State, and the show aired live inside Memorial Stadium for the full duration, rather than its usual setting among a mob scene of fans on Saturday mornings.
“I’m looking forward to actually being among the Indiana fans,” Davis said. “We were in the stadium in 2017, and it was a great night and people were excited, but there’s a little something different about having our full footprint of the show and the full three hours, and starting the day of football — and then tomorrow, go into the stadium for kickoff. Just a different vibe and a different energy about that when you start it early in the morning. People, I’m sure, are going to camp out and we’re going to have a huge crowd, and they’re going to be loud and excited, and there’s just something energizing about that. And I think it’s a lot different when we go someplace where we haven’t been before.”
The GameDay crew has several ties to Indiana and the football program. The most notable is Lee Corso, who coached the Hoosiers from 1973-82. The show will likely feature tributes to his time in Bloomington, and the fans are eager to show him love. Foley knew Corso led IU to its first-ever bowl win — and quickly added his belief that current head coach Curt Cignetti will lead the Hoosiers to their first national championship.
This three-hour college football pregame show will be an opportunity unlike any other for IU fans and Bloomington to show themselves off to the country. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff was in town for last week’s game against Nebraska, but that show started airing in 2019. GameDay, on air since 1987 and traveling to campuses since 1993, has a much larger footprint and a more prestigious status in the sport. It’s become a college football institution.
And that, as much as anything else, is why Foley felt it’s worthwhile to camp out for over 19 hours to be front and center for that experience.
“I feel like tomorrow will be a reason why the nation can understand why Bloomington needs this so much. I feel like Bloomington has been kind of dogged on a lot for their football over the years, and kind of dogged on for the basketball, too, because the basketball hasn’t performed as well. But I feel like this is just a great thing for Bloomington. I think it’s a great thing for IU fans,” Foley said. “I grew up in Martinsville, my grandparents had season tickets to the football games, so I grew up going to Memorial Stadium. So it’s just nice to see a successful team and the nation actually caring about our successful team.”
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