The Daily Emerald is providing live coverage of students attending ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast for University of Oregon football versus The Ohio State University, prior to the live show Saturday morning at 6 a.m. PST.
Update 7:00 a.m.
After a long night and as daylight breaks, hundreds of fans are leaving the Memorial Quad with two hours of broadcast left to go.
The remaining crowd stays loud, and energetic as the ESPN hosts preview today’s slate of college football games.
Still ahead, include live visits from Oregon Head Coach, Dan Lanning, Colorado, Head Coach, Deion Sanders, and guest star picker, Kaitlyn Olson as well as the famous field goal kick hosted by ESPN’s Pat McAfee.
Updated 6:15 a.m.
The College GameDay broadcast is officially underway. ESPN host Pat McAfee led the crowd in the fan-favorite song “Shout” while thousands packed in. The Oregon Duck also arrived in a bright yellow sports car to kick off the broadcast.
It was announced that Oregon Head Football Coach Dan Lanning and University of Colorado Head Football Coach Deion Sanders are scheduled to join the broadcast live later this morning.
Updated 5:45 a.m.
With just 15 minutes before the broadcast begins, the crowd has swelled to an estimated 2,500. The marching band continues to play while the crowd continues to grow bigger and louder.
Updated 5:15 a.m.
SportsCenter has started live streaming from the Memorial Quad; host Rece Davis threw shirts out to an excited crowd of over 2,000 fans.
The Oregon Marching Band arrived playing the UO Fight Song.
The broadcast is set to begin in just under 40 minutes.
Updated 4:00 a.m.
Approximately 1,500 students are now gathered on the Memorial Quad.
At least one person is confirmed to have lost consciousness on the stairs of Condon Hall. An ambulance, fire engine, paramedics and police arrived on the scene at 3:45 a.m. to transport the person.
Music has began playing as crowd members sing along. The crowd’s momentum can be heard across campus as anticipation grows with less two hours until the broadcast begins.
Updated 2:00 a.m.
Approximately 650 students are now gathered on the Memorial Quad and at 1:10 a.m., the pit opened two hours earlier than expected.
Crowd control could be heard saying over a megaphone, “Nobody wants to get killed, calm down, back up.”
According to multiple security officers and one UO Police Department officer, there is no medical care currently available, but medical personnel are expected to arrive later in the night.
Tony Belatt, a student on scene, said that crowd control management had not been enforcing safety rules.
“We’re getting pushed around, people are passing out. I heard there were no medics here,” Belatt said. “Everyone I’ve talked to is dismissing the fact… [that] people were passed out around me. I went up to three officers, they all dismissed me. I talked to a couple of security guys, they didn’t do anything. It’s already pretty bad.”
The Emerald was unable to confirm Belatt’s claims of people losing consciousness, but Emerald reporters on-scene witnessed numerous students being pulled from the crowd with limb injuries and many in emotional distress.
Alyssa Cheah, who arrived at 12 a.m., said she had not seen security alleviate the overcrowding situation.
“I haven’t seen any security,” Cheah said. “The cops are standing over there doing nothing. All five of them. They’re all standing over there having their own conversations.”
Sabrina Leissner arrived at 12:45 a.m. and she did not think that crowd control was “great”.
“I don’t think it’s great. I’ve seen videos of it, and it sounds like it was really bad,” Leisnerr said. “Apparently this was a line at one point and now it’s just a giant mob.”
The Memorial Quad is currently overflowing with garbage from students participating in the GameDay event.
Updated 11:45 p.m.
Approximately 300 Duck fans and a few Buckeye fans are gathered on the Memorial Quad.
Cheythan Winters, sophomore, arrived on the Memorial Quad at 4:30 p.m., over 13 hours before the broadcast is set to begin.
“It’s the biggest game in Oregon history, especially in Eugene. This never happens, especially on the West Coast…it’s a once in a college career thing,” Winters said.
Winters is hoping to get picked for Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest and win up to $100,000.
The contest is for early arriving fans who have a chance to attempt a 33-yard field goal during the live broadcast for the opportunity to win up to $100,000 of McAfee’s personal money.
Winters is planning on staying up until “maybe Sunday early morning” without any energy drinks or cups of coffee.
Marcus Ludes, sophomore, who arrived at 4:45 p.m., said this game is “really important for the Ducks.”
“I think they need to establish themselves in the Big Ten,” Ludes said.
Alex Ochoa, sophomore, is attending his first GameDay with friends. Ochoa arrived at the Memorial Quad at 8 p.m., but admitted he would have arrived sooner if he didn’t have to work.
“It’s lit. You know, it’s going to be fun. [We will] see what happens. It’s going to be a long day ahead of us, but we’re gonna get there, and we’re gonna have some fun,” Ochoa said.
Ben Weisman, sophomore, is also attending his first GameDay.
“A couple of my buddies were here two years ago for UCLA and they told me all about it. My older brother’s been hyping this up and I’m super excited to be here and I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces when Pat McAfee chooses Oregon over Ohio State,” Weisman said.
Weisman offered his predictions on how the game will go.
“I think Oregon’s gonna trail in the first and then we’re gonna get what we need to get done in the second half,” Weisman said.
Updated 10:30 p.m.
With the highest-ranked football game in Autzen Stadium history set to kick off in less than 24 hours, hundreds of students have gathered on the Memorial Quad at the University of Oregon.
The top-three matchup between Oregon and Ohio State has brought ESPN’s famous College GameDay show to Eugene.
Stay tuned to the Emerald on social media and at dailyemerald.com for live coverage throughout the night.
The following staff members contributed to this reporting: Jasmine Saboorian, Campus News Editor; Ysabella Sosa, Campus News Associate Editor; Tarek Anthony, Investigations Editor; Angelina Handris, Corey Hoffman, and Sasha Love, Campus News Reporters; Stephanie Hensley, City News Reporter; and Saj Sundaram, Photographer.
