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ESPN's College GameDay Set For Return To James Madison

ESPN analysts David Pollack (left) and Kirk Herbstreit are shown on the set of College GameDay on Oct. 24, 2015 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
ESPN analysts David Pollack (left) and Kirk Herbstreit are shown on the set of College GameDay on Oct. 24, 2015 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. (Austin Bachand/DN-R)

HARRISONBURG — College GameDay is coming back to Harrisonburg.

ESPN announced Sunday its flagship college football show will originate from James Madison University this Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. The FCS top-ranked Dukes host Colonial Athletic Association foe Villanova at Bridgeforth Stadium at 3:30 p.m.

“I think it’s great for JMU,” second-year coach Mike Houston said. “It’s great for the fans, great for the alumni, great for the institution with the national attention on our school.”

It’s the second time in three years that College GameDay will air from JMU, and like last time, the location for the show is the JMU Quad.

The show came for the first time on Oct. 24, 2015. To end the telecast, analyst Lee Corso dressed as James Madison, picking the Dukes to beat rival Richmond. JMU lost 59-49 that day.

Houston said his players will not see the set of the show like they did a few seasons ago.

“I talked about it with the kids [last Sunday] just because I wanted to go ahead and get it out there,” Houston said. “It’s been a rumor for a few weeks but we hadn’t even broached the subject. We just ignored it, but we talked about it [last Sunday] and I reminded the older kids that maybe a mistake that was made the last time was that there was too much focus from the team on GameDay being here.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re not involved at all. We’re going to focus on Villanova and that is it. You’re not going to see us at GameDay, we’re going to be a long ways off in some hotel hold up and we’re going to keep our schedule as it always is because at the end of the day, the most important part of the day is not a visit from College GameDay. As prestigious as it is, the most important part of the day, is the Villanova game.”

The show’s former coordinating producer and ESPN’s current vice president of college sports, Lee Fitting, is a 1996 JMU graduate.

JMU assistant athletic director for communications Kevin Warner said the show provides the school valuable exposure.

“There are very few opportunities for a school like JMU to gain the type of media exposure that comes with College GameDay,” Warner said. “It’s a tremendous boost to our continual efforts to grow our fan base and is a rare opportunity to show the rest of the country the great things we have going right now with JMU athletics.”

This Saturday’s appearance at JMU will mark the eighth time College GameDay visits an FCS school and the ninth at a non-FBS site. JMU will be the second FCS school to host the show twice joining North Dakota State, which the show visited in 2013 and 2014.

The Dukes are currently riding the nation’s longest active winning streak in Division I at 17 straight victories.

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