BERKELEY — The cameras stopped rolling at 9 o’clock precisely — showtime calls for the strictest of punctuality — however Rece Davis and Pat McAfee nonetheless had extra to say to the hundreds in attendance at Memorial Glade as soon as the world stopped watching.
A lot had already been mentioned over the course of ESPN’s Faculty GameDay broadcast on Saturday morning, the primary time Cal hosted the spectacle within the present’s 37-year historical past. There have been cheers. There have been boos. There have been chants of “Roll on you Bears” and Marshawn Lynch yelling, “Show love to the home team!” There have been calls for for Stanford Steve to take away his cardinal zip-up and there was the catharsis of a sophomore nailing a kick for $100,000.
And there have been indicators. So many lovely, boisterous, good indicators.
However on the conclusion of the three-hour broadcast, the official finish to a 12-plus hour marathon that actually started round midnight, sure, Davis and McAfee had extra to say. There have been nonetheless flowers to distribute.
“I’ve been doing this show for a decade, and people ask me all the time, ‘Where’s the best place to go?’” Davis mentioned. “And after today, I’m going to tell them the best place is where the whole damn world is in Bear Territory.”
“I know you guys have midterms right now,” McAfee mentioned. “I know you’re going to change the world. I know you have big brains. But this morning, you kicked [bleeping] [butt] for us.”
A 12 months in the past, the Bears discovered themselves with out a convention, its soccer future in query. On Saturday, their fanbase confirmed the entire rattling school soccer world that nobody can query their love of the sport. Cal’s fanbase didn’t simply present up; it confirmed out.
Of all of the morning’s memorable moments — of which there have been many — the one which generated the loudest roar got here from Daniel Villasenor, a sophomore civil engineering main who nailed a 33-yard uphill subject objective to stroll away with $100,000 for himself and $600,000 for hurricane aid.
A graduate of Livermore Excessive Faculty with a soccer background, Villasenor had solely tried a handful of brief subject objectives in his life. Even together with his leg, a 33-yard try was new territory. Villasenor missed his first try vast proper, however McAfee gave the sophomore a shot at redemption, upping the stakes from $75,000 to $100,000. With no sleep and solely a donut for sustinence, Villasenor didn’t miss twice.
“As soon as I saw it might have the chance of going in, I went crazy. I was so happy,” Villasenor mentioned. “Over the moon, really. No words.”
Villasenor was one in every of many college students in attendance, the life power of the occasion whose power wavered regardless of collective sleep deprivation. If something, there could have been an excessive amount of power. Round midnight, a big group of scholars broke down the obstacles round midnight and commenced getting into The Pit nicely earlier than 3:30 a.m., the designated time for followers to enter the world. Preliminary rowdiness apart, GameDay went on with out a hitch.
“We were in the front of the line and everybody pushed through the gate,” mentioned junior Veda Kalwala, who acquired a spot within the entrance of The Pit.
“Everyone in front of me fell, then I fell, then 20 guys fell on top of me on the concrete,” mentioned fellow junior Jia Jia Kelty, who attended GameDay with Kalwala. “I thought I was going to die, but I made it!”
For all of the lively college students in attendance, there was no scarcity of alumni who made the journey to Berkeley particularly to expertise Faculty GameDay at Cal for the primary time. Amongst these was Nick Desler, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2021.
A self-described school soccer junkie, Desler can recite each phrase from the ESPN broadcast of DeSean Jackson’s well-known punt return in opposition to Tennessee. When Cal was picked for Faculty GameDay, he didn’t hesitate to fly in from Austin.
“It was a no-brainer,” Desler mentioned. “There was no way I was going to miss this.”
There was additionally James and Chris Halliwell, a pair of brothers who drove to Berkeley from Reno. Whereas James and Chris have been adorned themselves in Cal paraphernalia, neither of them truly attended the college, each having graduated from the College of Nevada (Reno). Their household, although, was unmistakably a Cal household.
“We bleed blue and gold,” Chris Halliwell mentioned.
It wasn’t simply the scholars’ skill to shout and shout and shout some extra nicely earlier than the crack of dawn, although their vocal stamina was definitely spectacular. It was of their collective signal sport, too, one which embraced the identical self-aware, self-deprecating humor that made the Calgorithm a nationwide sensation.
You persons are blocking the library.
I solely do strains of code.
I believed this was a protest.
One sturdy candidate for greatest — if not most obscure — signal of the morning is one which learn, “The Adams-Onís Treaty was a mistake,” an settlement between Spain and the US that ceded Florida to America. Unsurprisingly, the signal resulted in a flurry of Google searches.
Desler, for his half, crafted a wildly well-liked signal that learn, “If you or a loved one attended the 2018 Cal vs TCU Cheez-It Bowl, you may be entitled to financial compensation.”
The GameDay expertise at Cal, after all, wouldn’t have been full with out the presence of Lynch who, as he’s wont to do, discovered his strategy to a golf cart. Nobody questions the energy of Lynch’s unwavering relationship to his alma mater, and nobody was shocked when he picked Cal throughout the prediction part. McAfee, although, was extra skeptical.
All the things in McAfee’s soccer mind instructed him to select No. 8 Miami. On this historic Saturday in Berkeley, he went together with his soccer coronary heart.
“I don’t care!” McAfee mentioned. “You know it!”
What!
“You tell the story!”
What!
“You tell the whole damn world this is Bear territory! I’m caught up in it! I’m caught up in the Berkeley hype!”
Initially Printed: October 5, 2024 at 12:36 p.m.
