ESPNNCAABy Jill Cowan on

College GameDay: Week 4

Let me tell you a story.

It’s November 12, 2011. I awoke at 4 AM, put on my homemade “Chuck Norris is Andrew Luck’s Backup” shirt, armed myself with a week’s worth of grill supplies and vodka, and hightailed it to Stanford Stadium. It was my first, and to this day only, College GameDay experience.

I’d rather not talk about the outcome of the Oregon vs. Stanford game that followed, but being on the Stanford Quad with fired up diehards, I truly understood the importance of this show to the college football landscape. I’m thrilled to cover College GameDay for the rest of the season, and it’s kind of poetic that Stanford at Oregon is my first crack at it.

And how could I say no to writing about Lee Corso each week? Who knows when he might shoot a firearm, slash his face with a saber, or almost accidentally strangle a duck. The man is a national treasure. Or liability. It’s a thin line.

Let’s get down to business.

The Basics

Game: #7 Stanford Cardinal at #20 Oregon Ducks
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Did Opposing Fans Show Up: Stanford fans have a hard enough time showing up at Stanford Stadium. So no, they were not a significant presence at GameDay.
Washington State Flag Status: For 213 weeks and counting, Ol’ Crimson loomed in the background.

Best Signs:

Oregon fans went pretty hard on former coach Willie Taggart, who left after one season for Florida State. He’s not off to a great start there, and Oregon fans have noticed:

Among the best examples:

Got Dream Job. Failing Miserably.
The Browns have a better record than Florida State.
My other sign left for FSU.
You can’t spell Willie Taggart without two Ls.

To be fair, Taggart used to coach at Stanford, so they’re throwing a modicum of shade there too.

This one is also really good:

Dumbest Sign:

KJ Costello claps when the plane lands.

Making fun of a Stanford player for being dorky has been done. Can’t you just make fun of his haircut instead?

Urban Meyer interview:

I am disappointed that GameDay aired yet another interview in which Meyer portrayed himself as the victim.

He came across as almost sociopathic with his pained facial expressions and self-serving faux remorse. When asked about his three game suspension, he characterized it as “Firm, harsh, tough” which could not be more tone deaf. This was not a live segment and given the content, I think they should have pulled it. Given the audible boos, Eugene agreed, and so did Twitter:

Bryce Love feature:

https://twitter.com/CollegeGameDay/status/1043542661704163329

In a time where football is rife with scandal, hypocrisy, and bad behavior, it’s refreshing to hear from a true student-athlete like Love, who wants to be a pediatrician after football.

Guest Picker:

Tim Matheson from Animal House (filmed on Oregon’s campus). And he’s wearing quite the suit. He, of course, picks Oregon.

Corso’s Headgear Pick:
Along with Desmond, Corso picks Oregon for the 19th time. AND HOLYFUCKINGSHIT HE HAS A LIVE DUCK AGAIN. He manages not to half strangle it this time.

Mascot Antics:

The Oregon Duck (the real one, not Lee Corso) threw a giant sheet cake in someone’s face. Just drilled him, too, as you saw in the video above. Here it is in gif form:

https://twitter.com/CollegeGameDay/status/1043536208582901761

Probable Week 5 GameDay Location: Best guess: Ohio State at Penn State.

About Jill Cowan

Jill earned an honorary degree in sports snark from Twitter University. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she spends the fall months at Stanford Stadium. Jill loves flea flickers, Spider 3 Y Banana, and Jim Harbaugh rage. She detests visors and The Wave.

View all posts by Jill Cowan