College Gameday - Top Moments of 2010

Throughout the week, OBNUG is featuring favorite moments from the past year in Boise State football. Help decide the final countdown of BSU's top moments of 2010. Voting ends today.

The 2010 season featured a lot of moments that cemented Boise State's arrival as a big-time college football team. There were Sports Illustrated covers, Top Five preseason rankings, Heisman Trophy ceremonies, and more Bronco-themed Bleacher Report slideshows than the Internet knew what to do with.

But only one moment invited me to play an active role, make an outlandish sign, wait in line for hours at 4:00 a.m., and put my agoraphobia to the test. College Gameday coming to Boise was my favorite moment of Boise State's 2010 season.

I never really expected ESPN College Gameday to come to Boise in past years for big-time WAC games because a) "big-time WAC games" is kind of an oxymoron and b) most big-time WAC games are played on Fridays since Karl Benson likes to keep his weekends open. That said, I thought Gameday was overdo to pay Boise a visit. And I think after coming for the Oregon State game, ESPN agreed.

Bronco fans put on such a good show that producers gushed afterward about how great the experience was. Now, they may say this to every school they visit (except Vanderbilt, probably), but I don't care. I know they really meant it. I mean, did you see how many of us there were at 5:00 a.m. on a freezing cold September Saturday?

Nick and I made a sign, which is putting it mildly. We didn't make it so much as craft it, and it was a piece of art. The premise: A jib-jab Mark May head that could say one of several pre-selected sayings. Sayings like:

These glasses are not prescription

Hurr durr durr

I am not impressed with Gandhi's body of work

Mad Men is overrated

I would like to see Schwarzkopf play an Ottoman Empire schedule

(Granted, in hindsight, they are not quite as funny as they were at the time, but take my word for it, they were really funny at the time.)

It was going to be the greatest sign in College Gameday history, and we were going to be celebrities.

It was confiscated at the door.

Something about making fun of ESPN personalities, which we found odd when we spotted a "Mark May is Home Depot's biggest tool" sign in the stands. Oh well. That only dampened our mood for the first 45 minutes, which still left us a good three-and-a-half hours to party hard. We milled around on the field. We squeezed up against more un-showered people than I care to remember. We cheered Boise State highlights. We booed Lee Corso. We got Home Depot gift cards valued at $1.00 to $500.00 (but really, $1.00). Life was good.

And the best part of all? We left knowing that we had been a part of Boise State history and had participated in a moment that helped etch Boise State even deeper onto the map of college football. The Broncos had arrived now that Gameday had arrived, and I was pretty stoked to be a part.