The wait is over. The defending FCS national champion James Madison Dukes will welcome Kirk, Lee, and the gang back to Harrisonburg next weekend. They've certainly lobbied for ESPN College GameDay (at least the fanbase has) and ESPN saw their point.
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You ready, James Madison?
You've got a 17-game win streak and we're headed back your way for @NovaFootball vs. No. 1 @JMUFootball! pic.twitter.com/AahzJAr7Ip
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 8, 2017
The famous college football pregame show, which dates its on campus circus back to the early 1990s — with Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso being there the longest — visited Harrisonburg, Va. in October of 2015, when the Dukes were undefeated and facing Richmond in a massive Colonial Athletic Association showdown. It didn't go as hoped though, as star QB Vad Lee got hurt in the game and Richmond won a 59-49 shootout.
Six current JMU players started in that 2015 game, and another 16 current players saw the field.
Just like in 2015, James Madison will face a tough CAA opponent on Saturday in Villanova, a team coming off a 31-0 home win over Maine. (JMU beat Maine 28-10 at home two weeks ago.) The Wildcats have suffered through a rash of injuries this fall yet still looked good on Saturday.
ESPN College GameDay first visited a college football campus in 1993, when they recorded live from a Notre Dame game. Prior to that, GameDay was in-studio. Current analyst Kirk Herbstreit joined the show in 1996, when it was still in its infancy, and Lee Corso has been with the show since its studio days going back to 1987.
The show expanded from two to three hours in 2010, and longtime host Chris Fowler stepped aside in 2015 — Rece Davis took his place. Desmond Howard joined the crew in 2005, David Pollack in 2011, and reporter/contributor Maria Taylor joined just this year.
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ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY AT FCS GAMES
NOTE: ON-CAMPUS SHOWS BEGAN IN 1993
2002
November 16: Harvard at Penn in Philadelphia, Pa.
2005
November 26: Southern vs. Grambling State in New Orleans, La.
2008
November 15: Hampton at Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Fla.
2013
September 21: Delaware State at North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D.
2014
September 13: Incarnate Word at North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D.
November 22: Yale at Harvard in Allston, Mass.
2015
October 24: Richmond at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va.
2017
October 14: Villanova at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va.
