Never in my life have I been fortunate enough to wake up one morning and say, "I'm going to GameDay today." Well that all changed this morning. The weather was cold when I woke up at 6:15 but there was so much excitement and adrenaline that weather wasn't of any concern. My girlfriend and I hit the road and we were off to UCF for not only our first trip to GameDay, but the first ever GameDay at UCF!
We get to the campus around 7:30am and there's a bunch of reserved signs where people usually tailgate during football games. There was a bunch of Home Depot tents and gear and an area where you could even make your own GameDay sign (which I did). In case you are wondering, my sign said, "GameDay, Good Evening It is Good To See You Again!!"
The crowd wasn't what I expected at first but that quickly changed. The closer it got time for GameDay to air, it seemed like everyone was packed in like sardines and you couldn't look more than two feet in front of you without seeing some sort of sign. There was an abundance of clever signs including my favorite of "Herbstreit burned down Carol's She Shed". I'm not sure if UCF was able to break the record for most people in attendance for GameDay, but I feel confident that the amount of signs that were there did break some sort of record.
There were all sorts of chants and cheers throughout the day and when one of the guys on GameDay said something the crowd didn't like, you heard a sea of 'boos' that were so loud, it put Arrowhead Stadium to shame.
One thing that was really cool for me; I was next to a stage where David Pollack and Maria Taylor did a segment and while they were waiting to get set up, one of the guys that helped them get set up, Todd, was just an absolute fan favorite. You heard chants of "Todd" and "Give Todd a raise" (which was his favorite).
Every so often, when the crowd would get quiet, you would hear the band start playing music to get everyone hyped right back up. Everything was just so in sync and working that it made the day that much more enjoyable.
The best part of the experience though had to be when Lee Corso, who I was waiting for to put on a Knightro helmet because I figured he would pick UCF to beat Cincinnati, actually got dressed in full Knightro gear.
I'm hoping this turn out will foreshadow the turnout at the game tonight and encourage GameDay to come back to Central Florida in the future because I know it can live up to the hype!