College GameDay is back and JMU is ready
‘James Madison, father of the constitution and mother of gameday crowds’
After weeks of anticipation, ESPN's College GameDay has announced that they will return to JMU for our game against Villanova Saturday, October 14th. The game has been sold out for weeks and tickets are going for over $100 on StubHub.
It's no secret that JMU nation has the most passionate and excitable fans you'll see. When GameDay came to JMU in 2015, they set up their stage on the quad surrounded by a spirited crowd of an estimated 12,000 people. Many people camped out on the quad Friday night, prompting host Sam Ponder to say "This is unreal. We've never seen a crowd like this on a Friday and it's not even GameDay yet". Afterwards, host Rece Davis told USA Today "I can't imagine a more intense, more in-tune crowd than we had here."
Currently JMU holds the nation's longest winning streak at 17 games. When we last played Villanova in 2016, we won 20-7.
Our 2015 College GameDay ended in a devastating loss 49-59 to University of Richmond (not that it stopped us from partying). But in the years since then, we've gotten a new head coach who has a different plan for the team this Saturday. Head coach Mike Houston said "As far as we’re concerned, we’re not involved at all. We’re going to focus on Villanova and that is it."
Let's see if we can beat that crowd of 12,000 this GameDay–just like we'll beat Villanova!