Cal Sports Report

Cal Named Top ESPN College GameDay Scene of the Year

Kirk Herbstreit gives his Herbie Award to the Golden Bears' outstanding, chaotic showing on October 6

Jake Curtis

ESPN College GameDay set
ESPN College GameDay set / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

Cal’s very first time hosting ESPN’s College GameDay turned out to be an award-winner.

College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit provided his choice of the top GameDay scene of the year on his annual Herbie Awards show on ESPN on Friday night, and he gave the honor to Memorial Glade in the heart of the campus at Cal on October 6 prior to the Bears’ game against Miami.

"Man, we had so many fun spots throughout the year," Herbstreit said on the show. "But going to Cal — I'll be honest, it made me scratch my head [when it Cal was chosen]. 'Miami and Cal? Are we going to get much of a crowd?'

"But look at that crowd!" Herbstreit said as video of the Cal fans at GameDay streamed during the ESPN show. "Unbelievable. The best scene of the year by far."

--Click here for a report on the Cal GameDay scene the day it took place.--

ESPN had 15 GameDay sites in 2024, including Dublin, Ireland, and Atlanta, Georgia, for the SEC title game, and twice at Texas A&M, But Cal’s chaotic showing won out over all of them.

The appearance and classic showmanship of former Cal running back and Bay Area icon Marshawn Lynch added to the mahem on the telecast, which began in the morning while it was still dark. Unfortunately, it was reported that a lot of Lynch’s funny lines had to be censored and did not appear.

Marshawn Lynch
Marshawn Lynch / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The clever Calgorithm tweets played a large part in getting ESPN’s GameDay to come to Berkeley for the first time in school history, but the Cal students made it happen in a big way.  They lined up in droves the night before and even broke down a gate to get into the festivities.

Cal chancellor Rich Lyons even showed up.

And no one can compete with the clever signs that Cal students can come up with.

The only thing that could have made the day better would have been a golden Bears victory later in the day against the then-No. 8 Miami Hurricanes.  Cal looked like it would be a day for the ages when it took a 35-10 lead in the third quarter, but Miami rallied and won the game 39-38.

.Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Published |Modified
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Football