Return of ‘GameDay’ evokes fond memories
ESPN preview show is returning to North Shore for the first time in nearly two decades today
Since the show’s inception in 1993, ESPN’s “College GameDay” has been a Saturday morning ritual for millions of college football fans around the country. The national pregame broadcast sets the tone week by week for days filled with highly anticipated action.
On Thursday, the GameDay cast and crew will be, in the words of the show’s theme song, “comin’ to your city” with a special, one-hour season preview show that will broadcast live inside Acrisure Stadium.
It has been almost 17 years since the show made an appearance on the North Shore, and nearly 19 since its first stop in Pittsburgh. Despite the time that has gone by, those who were around for those two events still hold memories as clear as day.
The Post-Gazette spoke with fans, players, administrators and GameDay staff members about their experiences from those two big weekends. Here is a description of those two days, from their words and recollections.
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Chris LaSala (Pitt associate athletic director, football administration) — We played Boston College up in Boston the week before the Virginia Tech game [in 2003]. When we won it, Bill Osborn, who was our color commentator for our radio, came up to me before we even left Alumni Stadium. We hadn’t even left the locker room yet and he said, ‘ Hey, Chris, man, I’m very confident GameDay is coming now.’ Virginia Tech had won that day, we’d taken care of business and he was very confident that they were coming the next week.
Chris “The Bear” Fallica (research producer for “College GameDay”) — Virginia Tech was a top-five team at the time. They were a fringe national title contender, right behind Oklahoma, LSU and USC. And at the same time, over at Pitt, you had a Heisman trophy contender in Larry Fitzgerald, so it was a great opportunity to showcase both of those storylines.
Lousaka Polite (Pitt fullback: 2000-2003) — The build up for the game was huge. When GameDay is somewhere else, you’re always watching it. You’re watching it in your hotel room or in the lobby with your teammates. I remember watching it so many times and thinking, ‘It would be so cool if it came here,’ so for it to finally come to Pitt, it was one of those things where we wanted to make it memorable.
Tyler Palko (Pitt quarterback: 2002-2006) — The ‘College GameDay’ experience, I guess when I played, it was kind of unique. A school like Pitt, because we weren’t a top-10 program every year and we were still in the Big East, we weren’t really playing on the big stage every week, like an SEC or Big Ten school was. When we had that game, there was definitely a lot of hoopla around it. Everyone was super excited that they were going to be here because ‘ College GameDay’ is ‘College GameDay.’
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The GameDay broadcast
‘‘ Everyone was super excited that they were going to be here because ‘College GameDay’ is ‘College GameDay.’ ” — Tyler Palko
went live at 10 a.m. Nov. 8, 2003 on the North Shore near Heinz Field. With Pitt making its first appearance on the popular show, many of its students and fans arrived early in order to have the best experience possible.
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Joshua Grubbs (Pitt fan) — I was actually in grad school at the time and was working multiple jobs. In the mornings, I had a paper delivery route that took me from Cranberry to a place in Green Tree. I’d head down 79 and 279 and across the Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt bridges to get through the tunnels. That day, my brother and I knew that GameDay was coming and we had plans to go down there. When I drove by I could see there were already a handful of people down there waiting for things to begin. I texted my brother to be ready to go. We were able to get front row, center, right behind [Kirk] Herbstreit and Lee Corso. This was in the early days of texting. We were on TV the entire time, and I had my phone blowing up with people telling me, ‘Hey, we see you!’ It was so cool.
Dave Tan (Pitt Class of 2004) — I was there with about 10 of my fraternity brothers. We got there early, around 8 a.m. and tried to meander our way to the front but it was packed. You could tell from the start that it was a very big deal.
Dave Crown (Pitt Class of 2009) — What the school did, they actually had the same shuttles they used later in the day to take kids to the North Shore for the games. I went with a future roommate of mine. Probably the most vivid memory I have, as we’re heading onto the North Shore, you look over and see where the stage is set and all we saw were orange helmets. Of course, we were playing Virginia Tech that year, so we’re thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, these guys took over the city!’ However, when we got there, we realized that Home Depot was actually a sponsor and those were helmets that were given to people by Home Depot. The other memory that I have are these guys that somehow got a sign on in the background, that said, ‘Did you know ... Wade Boggs drank 64 beers on a cross country flight.’ They got it in the background for probably a good hour of the show and a couple of days later, it ended up on ‘Pardon the Interruption.’ They were actually debating if this guy actually drank that many beers in one day!
Dan Conte (Pitt Class of 2004, creator of the Wade Boggs sign) — The sign itself just dwarfed every other sign there. It was comical how big it was. I remember people next to us in the crowd talking to their friends on the phone asking if they could see their sign on TV and using our sign as a point of reference. People would ask us if we could put it down for a bit so their signs could be seen, which we did.
LaSala — I remember our equipment staff calling me that afternoon and telling me, ‘Hey man, it’s live down here. It’s like an AFC championship game.’ I clearly remember that comment. I know from the moment we got off the bus, that place was electric.
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The game itself more than lived up to the hype. From start to finish, the Panthers and Hokies exchanged blows in front of a packed crowd. Virginia Tech running back Kevin Jones had a career day, rushing for a school-record 241 yards on 30 carries and all four of his team’s touchdowns. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald and tight end Kris Wilson had huge nights for Pitt, both tallying over 100 yards receiving and a score.
Trailing 28-24 with 4:10 left in the game, the Panthers got the football back on their 30 after forcing Marcus Vick to throw an incomplete pass on fourthdown. Quarterback Rod Rutherford — who finished the game with 303 yards passing, a pair of touchdowns and an interception — connected with Fitzgerald for three big gains to march his team down field. As the clock ticked away, a hometown kid was given a chance to be the hero.
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Polite — Earlier that game I had a fumble. I fumbled in the first half — I’m really hard on myself, especially with stuff that affects the team, so I was thinking I might never touch the ball again. But, I told myself, ‘If I do get the ball again, I’ve got to make something happen for my team.’ I was surprised they called my number on the goal line but then again, I wasn’t. It was 3rd-and-goal from inside the 5. In my mind, we’re probably throwing a fade route to Larry because no one can stop him one-on-one. However, our coaches knew that’s what Virginia Tech would expect us to do. When they called my number, I knew I was going to give everything I had to get into the end zone for my guys.
LaSala — That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard that stadium. When Lousaka Polite scored, and then three or four plays later, Corey Humphries intercepted a pass to end the game, that stadium was unbelievable. It was shaking.
Conte — When Lousaka Polite ran in that touchdown, it was like bedlam; we just went crazy. As many drinks as I had and as many years that have gone by, I still remember that night like it was yesterday. I’d never really seen Pitt like that really in my adult life. I was a little bit young in the 1980s when Pitt was a power, so when this happened, it was too good to imagine. There was just so much optimism, so much hype for the future. It was something that I’d never seen.
Tan — It was definitely one of my best experiences — one of those things where the lead up to it, with everything happening, was just wonderful. We never had GameDay come before and it was just this allday event. Just a great memory.
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College GameDay would return to Pittsburgh less than two years later. Similar to Thursday night, ESPN chose Pitt’s season-opening contest as the first show location for the 2005 season.
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Fallica — That show was interesting for two reasons: Number 1 was because it was Desmond Howard’s first show on ‘College GameDay.’ Number 2 was because it featured a matchup of two new head coaches — Charlie Weis for Notre Dame and Dave Wannstedt for Pitt.
Palko — It was one of those things where we knew we were a good team, we knew we were behind the eight ball because we were in an old system for a long time, but it was still the same excitement. We were opening up with Notre Dame on ‘ College GameDay’ — it doesn’t get much better than that. We knew that they were going to come in strong. They had a new coach, as well. Both teams had a lot to prove.
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While the build up was just as grand, the outcome was far less enjoyable for Pitt fans. After jumping to a 10-7 lead, the Panthers were outscored 28-3 by Notre Dame in the second quarter en route to a 42-21 beating on national television.
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Palko — They just played better than us that night. We felt good about the way we opened the game but [stuff] didn’t work out the way we planned. We couldn’t get enough points on the board, and obviously, Brady (Quinn) had a good game. He played like a first-round draft pick. It just didn’t fall our way that night.
Scott Lipner (Pitt Class of 2007) — I definitely took the shuttle buses back to campus during halftime. The energy was drained from Heinz Field fairly early in that game.
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With a high amount of excitement around the program, along with the renewal of a historic rivalry, Pitt will look to recreate a night similar to the first trip “College GameDay” made to town and avoid how it went the second time.
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Fallica — It’s going to be a great opportunity to take our show somewhere we haven’t been in awhile. With the direction college football is going, we’re losing some of these regional rivalries due to conference realignment and expansion. We’ve lost a lot of these great games, like the Backyard Brawl. We saw an opportunity to take the show somewhere where we knew there would be a lot of buzz around the game.
David Green (Pitt defensive tackle) — Just thinking about it gives me chills. I just can’t wait to go out there with my brothers and fight.