In a word, yep.
There is a very real possibility that ESPN will host its famous college football show ESPN College GameDay from outside of Carter-Finley Stadium next week. It is a scenario that even the most optimistic State fan (yea there are still a few of those) could imagine after a 3-9 record in 2013 but it is real and its spectacular.
Despite Jameis Winston’s most recent outbreak and first-half suspension (best perspective @Tomahawknation), I believe FSU will still win and come to Raleigh unbeaten to match-up with what should be a 4-0 NC State team after this week’s game against FCS Presbyterian. That would make it one of only 3 match-ups of unbeaten teams with Notre Dame vs Cuse & Auburn vs K-State which is on Thursday night. I like our chances against those games especially given the historical troubles FSU has had in Raleigh.
Edit – Some people have pointed out that FSU would be on GameDay back to back weeks and for the third time this year which you would think might be a negative but 10 times there have been teams featured on back to back weeks and there have been teams featured 4 and 5 times in recent years.
Now I know the first thing that will come to mind for you negative Nancies will be 2004 and the nightmare fuel that is Devin Hester and I’m not gonna lie it was the first thing I thought of but having ESPN College GameDay in Raleigh is nothing but 100% positive for the program. I was there in 2004, heck I still have the t-shirt to prove it. I know how painful that game was but I also remember the entire day of excitement and festivities. The FSU game will provide an electric atmosphere all-day with epic tailgating which should see extended tailgate hours and provide Carter-Finely with an extremely amped up crowd for hopefully a night or at the very least a late afternoon ESPN time slot.
In addition to the exposure GameDay brings towards the program, that weekend is setting up to be one of the biggest recruiting weekends in recent memory for State as the coaches will host a plethora of potential 2015 kids and some top-talent from the 2016 class. Hopefully we’ll have a list of those in the near future.
It really won’t matter if we get trucked by the National Champs. The whole day will be about the exposure for the program and the atmosphere up until kick-off a solid performance, close game or even a win would all be icing on the cake for NC State Football.
We should know more this weekend as ESPN usually gives schools a week’s notice if they plan on showing up.
If you are interested in potential locations for GameDay for the rest of the season, take a look at the most recent SCACChoops.com blog post .
As a side note, despite my personal feelings about Bubba Sparxx he had the best intro’s for GameDay
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