A Few Notes on What We Need From JMU Football Fans for Gameday
So we’re a) old and b) certainly not the experts on what others should be doing, but as huge dork fans that want this weekend to live up to everything we all hope for JMU, we thought we should emphasize a few things that we’ve learned from visiting FBS games ourselves over the years (in Rob’s case mainly LSU and in mine WVU). Hopefully a few of these will truly help. Here’s the official info from JMU, who is doing an amazing job communicating with fans. And here’s our very unofficial advice.
- Gameday takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, but JMU needs as many purple-clad lunatics like ourselves present and insane on the Quad from no later than 6:45 a.m. The first live shots on Saturday come on Sportscenter at 7. ESPN often hides weak crowds by not emphasizing them in the early broadcast, but when a school shows out like we all hope we can, they will  shower them with camera time on the intros and outros to commercial throughout that broadcast which also helps them hype the big show. JMU has outdone themselves and should absolutely be applauded for opening the parking lots at 6 a.m. so we can all park (with all our tailgate gear in tow) and then get up to the Quad. We know arriving that early seems insane, but we don’t have to tell you this is potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of college football’s biggest stage and to showcase the place we all love. Get on it and no excuses.
- ESPN will also air other programming from the Quad on Friday, beginning with live spots with Sam Ponder as early as 9 a.m. on Friday. Other set features will be filmed later Friday morning. Friday’s 30-minute College Football Live program will air at 2 p.m. from the Quad with a gathering of fans welcome in the Pit area. There will be additional SportsCenter live shots Friday evening. Everything we said about Saturday goes equally for Friday, though we’ve gotta admit we pretty much have to rely on students and locals for filling that set and setting the tone for what should be an incredible 36 hours.
- Up to you, and we know the tailgating time will be a little compressed if you stay throughout the show, but if you’re anything like us, the hope of seeing Corso throw on that Duke Dog head right before noon will make it all worthwhile. Remember, most of us non-students (i.e. those of us not on set or in the pit), will simply be providing an incredible purple backdrop and hopefully entirely filling the quad. There will be downtime, quite a bit of it in a 3-hour show that will largely focus on the national FBS picture for the viewing public, but every single one of us is a little part of what will make this special and it’s entirely worth it. ESPN will also have big screens set up for all of us to pay attention. It will be hard to hear what’s going on at times, but again, how many times are you going to be on the Quad for something like this?! When in doubt, just root!
- One really cool thing we’ve heard from NDSU fans is that the Producer, Lee Fitting, is actually the guy in charge of the whole thing and will be the one talking to, directing, and generally hyping the crowd during commercials. Needless to say, for a ’96 JMU alum, we’re guessing this will mean something special to him and as a group we ought to return that love.
- Have fun. Remember there’s still 3 hours to catch up on tailgating.
- If you can, bring a bag of streamers with you pretty much everywhere you go. As our buddy @Dukie95 said today, if there’s a single purple or gold streamer left on the shelf of a party store or a Dollar General anywhere in the Commonwealth on Friday night, we’ve all failed.
- Remember, Gameday itself is a three-hour party and generally just a celebration of everything that makes college football the best, most ridiculous good time around. It is NOT the game itself. There will be hundreds of fans from other schools on hand if our version is anything like the others. The famous Washington State flag, and it’s supporters, will certainly find their way to South Main St. Same goes for Lehigh, UVa, VT, and darn near every school within an 8-hour drive, including our opponents the hated Ticks and even that “school” in Norfolk. Making fun of them on signs is completely cool, but no need to be an ass in person. Save that part for the game at least.
- Yes, it’s a long day, but find the right combination of pacing yourself, Red Bull, and preferably a flask of some type and save your biggest effort for the 4th quarter of the Spatter Stompin’!
I may hit a few Dollar Generals in NC on my way up for streamers. And thank you for #7. Hype our team, but respect the opponent.
Any Party City store will have purple streamers. Also, Stubhub has club level tickets for $550. That has to be the highest ever for a JMU ticket. Parking passes alone were going for over $100.
The struggle is real at work this week
I hope someone with better tech skills than me will be recording all of the reports from JMU throughout the two days and putting it together in a YouTube reel for us to enjoy for years to come.
Go Dukes!!
I have a quick question. Do you guys know if the game will be broadcast on ESPN 3?
This is BS – should be first come first served.
“A 500-spectator pit area will be located immediately behind the College GameDay set and will be available only to JMU students with a valid JACard beginning at 6:30 a.m.”
I wonder if my gold jaccard from ’09 will work? I mean, I only graduated recently. I could hypothetically still be in grad school.
No, the game will not be on ESPN3. ESPN does not have the rights to this game in any format, to my knowledge.
I disagree with you on that one RIPAshby. If it’s first come first served, Richmond would have the chance to load that Pit with tick fans. I like that students will be filling it in. Maybe this will entice them to start sticking around for games. I would’ve loved an experience like this when I was there.
What are you smoking JMU2003DUKE? When has an opposing school ever taken over college game day at the school that is the home team? This is a slap in the face to alumni who get nothing besides the invitation to donate money back to JMU which by the way at a 7% alumni donation rate is pretty poor.
That’s exactly the point, Ashby. You never see that, because they only allow home students in. Thanks.
Hi everyone – I’m in desperate need of C4 (Hillside) parking passes as my very large (45 person) alumni group has now gotten booted from R1 (baseball lot) because it is no longer a cash lot. If anyone is selling one, or knows someone who is, please let me know! Thanks.
GameDay in Harrisonburg, gotta love it. Wish I could make the drive to hang on the Quad. Crazy to see tix going for hundreds of dollars.
When we played Richmond in the National Semifinals in ’08 some of my friends just walked in from the old parking garage haha. So slack and laid back in those days, I miss that vibe but hey it is cool to be on GameDay.
Does anyone know how lenient the campus police are with open containers on campus and in the parking lots these days? #askingforafriend
Duke 98 you can have alcohol in the parking lots but they are pretty strict about it on the campus outside of parking areas and tailgating.
Just have to not be a jerk. We always walk down from Convo and D2 to the lower lots with Purple Solo cups. I’m guessing they’ll be a little tighter than usual around the quad, but nothing a flask and a regular soda bottle won’t get around. ESPN is big on not showing drinking though (not to mention the whole thing is sponsored by Coke Zero) so if you want to be on camera, wait till the tailgate.
And Ashby, this is cool as hell for students. Those students are future alums/donors too and they’re WAAAAYYYY more likely to dye their hair purple, paint themselves, and generally look fantastically insane on tv than any “trying to act young and cool but failing” alums like us!