‘GameDay’ goes mobile
Pregame moves Fans will feel game atmosphere inside, outside

Published: October 10, 2008

ESPN’s "College GameDay” crew will be on the move Saturday as it makes its first appearance at the OU-Texas game since 2002.

"GameDay,” 9-11 a.m., will start out at its massive set near Big Tex on the Texas State Fairgounds. At 10 a.m., the crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso will hop on a golf cart, led by a police escort, and rush inside the Cotton Bowl to a set along the sidelines. Then shortly after the ABC game broadcast begins at 11 a.m., Herbstreit will have about five minutes to scurry up to the press box to join play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger for the game broadcast.

Coordinating producer Lee Fitting said viewers benefit from the moves.

"You get sort of the pregame atmosphere outside and then the last hour, when the fans start heading in to watch the game, you get the atmosphere inside the stadium with all the warm-ups going on and the bands playing,” he said.

For the first hour, Fitting is expecting a large contingent of OU and Texas fans, who will be split into half, like what is done inside the Cotton Bowl. Fans shouldn’t bother to bring offensive signs, defaming the rival school. The show’s 10-man security crew will quickly confiscaste obscene signs.

"Every week behind our set, there is a pile of confiscated signs,” Fitting said. "We don’t want anything that is inappropriate on the air, and we’ve seen everything.”

"GameDay” usually appears at two or three neutral site games a year, but Fitting said fights between rival teams’ fans are rare.

"We’ve had a couple of little skirmishes,” he said. "Occasionally we’ll get some drunk yahoos that will throw something, but for the most part, the fans are pretty well behaved.”

Netting and a roof over the stage protect Fowler, Herbstreit and Corso from the projectiles.

Corso may need some protection, considering he’s only 3-3 in hat predictions this season, in which he puts on a hat of the team he thinks will win the featured game.

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