GAMEDAY has got nothin’ on the ODYSSEY!

Bronco Chris’ father, Meterologist Mike,, says that the warmest fall in Michigan history will come to a screeching halt for the WMU game. Unseasonably warm weather is expected to yield to cold, windy conditions with a strong possibility of rain and/or snow.

From 70 to Snow the Boat
I had no plans of visiting Kalamazoo for the Western Michigan vs. Buffalo game. Coming into the season there were several games that stuck out on the Western Michigan schedule: B1G opponent Northwestern week 1, the rematch/revenge game versus Georgia Southern week 4, the start of the MAC schedule (Rival CMU and MAC West Dynasty NIU), and Toledo coming to Kalamazoo on Black Friday (more on this later). That all changed with a text message on Sunday November 13th. The message from a fellow Bronco read “This is not a drill. College GameDay is coming to Kalamazoo”. ARE YOU SERIOUS? Corso, Herbstreit, Rece, Desmond, Pollack, and Samantha are all rolling into town for a WMU game? This is like Christmas for Bronco Nation if Christmas came once every 10 years and you had a 1 in 6 shot of Santa (or anyone else) leaving you a gift. When you are a “Group 5 Team” (couldn’t they pick a different term? Maybe it should be Profitable 5 versus the Subsidized 5…never mind…bad suggestion) College GameDay is not likely to visit your town. Prior to this weekend, GameDay had visited a MAC game once in the 20 year running of the preeminent pregame show. So the moment I read that text message I knew I had to be there for the experience.
As I left the office Friday afternoon wearing short sleeves with a little extra pep in my step to start the trek to Kalamazoo, I couldn’t help but wonder about the weather. It was 70 degrees in my northern Michigan tourist town. The whole week was remarkably warm. November in Northern Michigan, you are more likely to have to shovel snow then to go outside without a coat. I couldn’t believe that the forecast was calling for highs in the mid 30s, snow, and wind on Saturday. “Wouldn’t it be great if the weather could hold off one more day?” I thought to myself. The weather wasn’t going to deter me, but I did worry about the lukewarm commitment many Bronco fans have displayed in the past.
With a wet snow already falling, we arrived at the GameDay set close to 8:00 with my weather proofed GameDay poster in tow. When we arrived there were between 1,000 and 2,000 fans positioned around the stage. ESPN couldn’t have picked a better spot for the set with the recently renovated Sangren Hall seated in the background directly in the heart of main campus. After getting through the metal detector, pat down, and the ESPN poster screener we were able to get into the pit directly behind the set. I could almost smell Corso’s aftershave bellowing from the GameDay bus! It was a jubilant seen from the start. ESPN has a DJ blasting out energizing music prior to the show and during commercial breaks. There was a spirit of excitement about the show and the football team that I had not previously experienced at Western. Chants of “Row the Boat!” continued to rev up the crowd. Kalamazoo is located within 100 miles of Ann Arbor, East Lansing, and South Bend. All of these teams had home games this Saturday. Attendance for these 4 games surpassed 290,000! To my surprise, almost all of the fans on the set were fellow Broncos. As with every week on College GameDay, Washington State’s flags made the trip to Kalamazoo. There were fans scattered in from Clemson, Alabama, and Michigan. However, the biggest non-Bronco turnout was the fans from D-II powerhouse Grand Valley State. The Lakers are in the midst of another great year (11-0 and Ranked #1 in the region) and had the week off between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs on the 27th. The introduction to the show with a Rece Davis lead “Row the Boat” dialog set the start of a great show. I was happy to see my sign on GameDay throughout the show. The ESPN inside coverage about the Broncos and PJ Fleck was equally pleasing. The crowd reached another level of excitement when PJ showed up on the set for an interview. That was only surpassed when the snow fall intensified as Gene Wojciechowski delivered his segment outside the comfort of the tent over the main stage. The crowd and the cast were equally pleased with the snow fall as it added to the ambience of the show. As a WMU alum, walking in the snow to and from class is part of the experience of the school. People remember the games in the snow. Look at the coverage from the Michigan/Indiana game this weekend. The coverage is just as much about the snow as it is about the game. It was only fitting that GameDay’s visit to Kalamazoo included a cold front and snowfall. Lastly, Kalamazoo’s own Greg Jennings came to the set for the last segment. He went to Kalamazoo Central High School where he was a superstar in football, basketball, and track. His father was a pastor at a Kalamazoo church. Luckily for the Broncos his scholarship to Michigan was pulled after he had an injury his senior year. He was unstoppable from his sophomore through senior seasons with the Broncos. Obviously he went on to a solid professional career with trips to the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl. Greg was the perfect pick.
The game against Buffalo was a slow start. At kick-off half the stands were empty despite the fact that there were only a few thousand tickets still available. Most fans were trying to arrive at the stadium as late as possible before enduring the 25 degree wind chill at wind exposed Waldo Stadium. WMU’s offense could not sustain a drive going into the wind in the first quarter. Buffalo was winning the field position battle and the crowd was ready for something to cheer about when WMU had an uncharacteristic turnover. When I say uncharacteristic, I mean WMU has turned the ball over just 5 times all year! Thankfully, the WMU defense held Buffalo in check in the early going and throughout the game. Buffalo’s backup QB Grant Rohach had a difficult time delivering accurate passes to open receivers. Buffalo’s RB Jordan Johnson had a good game with 95 yards on 16 carries, but he wasn’t enough to keep a drive going. In the second quarter with the wind at their backs the WMU offense started to click again and broke the ice with a Corey Davis touchdown. This touchdown put Corey in first place for all time touchdown receptions in the MAC. Next week Corey needs just 18 yards to be the FBS all time receiving yards leader! He is one of a few NFL prospects on this year’s WMU team (See the entire WMU Offensive Line). The Broncos took a 14 point lead into halftime after a nifty catch and run from Jarvion Franklin. To my disappointment, many of the fans in attendance had enough of the cold and headed for the exits with the game far from decided. One thing that is nice about MAC football is that it is very family friendly. You can get into Waldo Stadium for $20 a ticket. You can bring your 5 year old (or under) to a game, have ample space for the kids to walk around, the food is affordable, and therefore it is much easier on the pocketbook. Can you justify taking a 5 year old to a B1G game at $80+ a seat? The down side of Waldo’s family atmosphere is that when someone starts to get cold, the whole family heads for the exits. I can’t blame them as I would do the same with my family, but I think this is a reason why so many left so early. In the first half the WMU offense seemed tentative and afraid of losing their perfect season. In the second half the WMU offense started to hum. Every drive in the second half lead to points except one where freshmen kicker Butch Hampton in his first cold weather college game hit the upright on a short field goal attempt. Senior receiver Michael Henry had a particularly nice run when he turned a short pass into a 65 yard touchdown run. After the Broncos took a 31-0 lead in the fourth quarter I headed for the exits with Toledo on my mind. Zach Terrell had a career day with 445 yards passing. He surpassed Tim Hiller to become WMU’s all-time leader in passing yards. I will have more thoughts on the marquee matchup between the Rockets and Broncos later in the week.
My GameDay poster featured WMU Coach PJ Fleck’s motto “Row the Boat”, a picture of a Fleck captained boat mowing over 3 Boise State logos, and the bottom of the sign stated “Boise is not a state”. If I could do it again, I would have had the boat sliding down a hill mowing over the Boise State logo with the saying “Snow the Boat”.

Thanks for inudnrtciog a little rationality into this debate.

I came, I read this article, I corndeqeu.