GAMEDAY IS HERE
ESPN's `College GameDay' arrives in Norman different but more valuable in pandemic. This is the seventh time “College GameDay” has visited Bedlam, but it's not the same show fans are used to.
NORMAN—At 8 a.m. Sat ur day morning, Bi g & Rich's “Comin' to Your City” will fire up on ESPN, marking the beginning of a big day.
A camera will pan out to show the University of
Oklahoma' s campus that would be filled with crazed fans in a normal year. ESPN's “College GameDay” crew will welcome the audience from inside Gaylord Family —Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
At that moment, everything should feel right on a Saturday morning across the country.
Bedlam is less than 12 hours away. Other games begin in three hours. There are stories to tell, analysis to make and predictions to deliver.
“It' s still college football season, and we're still here to talk about it,” said
“I think it gives a sense of normalcy to some people, especially the people who follow the show and love the sport.”
Desmond Howard, analyst
Drew Gallagher, the coordinating producer of “College GameDay.” “I think as long as we've got that, all is good.”
But as 2020' s unpredictability continues, there are few normalities about the broadcast.
ESP N' s flag ship college football show will be live in Norman to preview the day and Bedlam, the top game in the country this weekend.
Nearly its entire on-air crew will be there. But there will be no live fans. No actual signs. No headgear.
The COVID-19 era “College GameDay” broadcast is different but perhaps even more important to fall Saturdays.
“I think it gives a sense of normal cy to some people, especially the people who follow the show and love the sport ,” analyst Desmond Howard said.
“I think that's always good when you're going through a global pandemic and everything else that we've gone through from the pandemic to the election.”
This is the seventh time “College Game Day” has visited Bedlam, and only the second in Norman for the rivalry. OU is undefeated in the Bedlam series with the show present.
But it's not the same show
Bedlam fans are used to each time.
The set i s perched i nside the stadium. No fans will be allowed near it, but they can enter a drawing online to be a virtual fan. Fans can also
submit their homemade signs online using the hash tag #GameDaySigns.
Host Re ce Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, David Pollack, Maria Taylor a nd Howard along with others appear in person throughout the season. Lee Corso joins the show virtually, ultimately making his famous headgear pick for the game of the week from a set designed in his backyard.
Even most of the production crew remains in Bristol, Connecticut.
Interviews are conducted virtually. The celebrity guest picker also joins virtually.
“We have been trying to take a glass half-full approach on everything we're doing this year,” Gallagher said. “OK, we don't have live fans on site but the virtual fans allow us to open the `GameDay' signs to the entire country.
“In a way it's made `College GameDay' a little more accessible for everyone. I think it's a good thing.”
“College GameDay” began in 1987 as a studio show. It started to travel to a different campus each week in 1993.
From there, the show became the norm in college football fans' lives. From the signs that students create filled with catchy jokes or burns to Corso's headgear to celebrities, there is no better TV tradition.
COVID-19 nearly knocked that out.
In April ,“College GameDay” looked like a longshot. But Gallagher and the rest of the production crew got a chance to run the broadcast of the NFL Draft.
It was mostly a skeleton broadcast, with top draft picks staying home and being interviewed virtually. Social distancing was practiced on set.
That was proof that “College GameDay” could still remain a traveling show.
“If we could have signed up for this back in April, I would have signed up for it in a heartbeat,” Gallagher said. “The fact that we're able to have the guys all on the same desk together, that we're still able to travel the show is still a win.”
A small victory translates to a massive moment in a pandemic, especially with a huge gameday tradition.
There might not be fans in attendance to enjoy it, but that doesn't change the value of pushing forward. It'll just make things sweeter when fans can attend once again.
“We understand, of course, where our show and everything fits into the context of everything else,” Davis said. “But if we get( fans) back sooner rather than later, then that means we' reina good place in the greater picture as well. Hopefully, that'll be the case.”