The UC Berkeley logo illuminated the Campanile while massive stage lights swept the lawn in front of the Doe Library, where thousands of students and fans gathered for ESPN’s College Gameday. It was only four a.m., but some of the self-proclaimed “nerds” had been camped out for over 10 hours.
With flags, signs, and enormous school spirit, students stood vigilant among crushed Redbull cans and empty Fireball bottles, waiting for Pat Macafee and special guest, Cal alumni Marshawn Lynch, to take the stage for college football’s premier morning show.
As one of the nation’s top-ranked schools with a roughly 10% acceptance rate, UC Berkeley’s student body is often and rightfully deemed as “nerdy” — not exactly the stereotypical college football crowd. But well before the morning’s golden hour, the fans told their own story, as the California Golden Bears let everyone know: this was Bear’s territory.
ESPN’s College Gameday is a well-known tradition in collegiate athletics. The show travels to schools across the nation, joining in tailgates and engaging with students, covering the sport of college football.
Gameday first went on the road in 1993, where they traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to cover Notre Dame vs. Florida State. In the 30+ years since the show has been hosted at Alabama 19 times and Ohio State 23 times, but never before in Berkeley, California.
“It was so exciting to hear Gameday was coming to Cal,” said Cal fan and Bay Area resident Vijay Namboodiri, “I see them going to OSU and ‘Bama and Georgia every Saturday, so it’s just surreal to have them come into my backyard.”
October 6th, 2024, marked Cal’s first conference home game as they faced their new ACC rivals, the University of Miami Hurricanes.
College Gameday’s host, Pat Macafee, admitted his doubts about coming to Berkeley, being unsure about what the atmosphere would actually be like. To his surprise, Cal fans turned out to the show even in the dark of night, cheering so loud that Macafee proclaimed Berkeley “one of the best cities in this here United States.”
For Cal fans, this energy was no surprise.
“I know they didn’t expect much from us, so we tried to be louder than everywhere else,” said Cal fan Sam Stoch, “I know our reputation isn’t the same as some of the big football schools, but we love college football just as much.”
In UC Berkeley fashion, the students leaned into their reputation of academic excellence and their comparative “wokeness” to the rest of the college football scene. With signs of “I thought this was a protest” and chants calling the University of Miami a “safety school,” Cal students brought a unique flavor to Gameday, expressing their spirit in a way only they could.
“It was just so Cal,” said computer science major Gianmarco, “We can be nerds, and we can be smart, but we can also love sports. We’re proving it right now. I mean, can’t you hear it?”
They certainly could hear it, with ‘they’ being former Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Saban began the morning in a red tie, matching the colors of the school he used to coach. Cal fans, however, saw this as cardinal red, a shade synonymous with their long-time rivals, Stanford.
Saban quickly became a target for the Berkeley crowd. Eventually, after minutes of facing repeated chants of “Take off that red tie,” Saban stood before the crowd at Berkeley, exchanging his crimson tie for Cal’s blue and gold.
“The ‘Calgorithm’ was in full effect today. Man, by the end of the show, we had Saban repping Berkeley. We even had Pat picking us over a top ten-ranked team,” said Namboodiri, “that’s what was so awesome. No one can say we don’t have real fans anymore.”
With new conference alignments, the transfer portal, and the introduction of NIL money, the college football landscape is changing, forcing schools like UC Berkeley to adapt. Before this season, Cal made the switch to join the ACC, the American Coastal Conference, a move that they hope will help grow their program.
This move, however, meant leaving the PAC-12, an iconic conference that housed historic rivalries that fans cherished. With some fans brandishing signs saying, “The PAC-12 died for your sins.”
“I’ll miss playing the Huskies and Oregon and some of the other teams,” said Gianmarco, “the PAC-12 was really special, and it is pretty sad to lose some of those rivalries and the spirit that came along with them.”
Despite the disappointment regarding the loss of historic rivalries, many Cal fans are excited by the move to the ACC, hoping it brings new relevance to their program.
“We get to play better football. That means better players and more nationally televised games. I mean it’s our first home ACC game, and we already have Macafee and Gameday here,” said Namboodiri, “I’ll miss the PAC-12, but I haven’t been this excited about Cal football in a long time, and I’m really enjoying this feeling.”
