MISSOULA — On Mount Sentinel, home to the M, you may have noticed "GameDay" written across the side of the hill. This comes as community members rally together in hopes to bring College Game Day to Missoula and show them what Griz fans are all about.
It's a rivalry as old as time. If you aren’t a University of Montana Griz, you’re a Montana State Bobcat. But more importantly, on this day with the potential of ESPN’s College Game Day coming to town, you are a Montanan.
“Top 10 game in a rivalry that's 120 years old, that means something to everybody in the States," said Eric Taber, Griz football communications manager. "That's the special part about the Griz-Cat game. And that's why we think ESPN should come here.”
Efforting the TV show appearance is UM with the support of some retweets from MSU. The process to get College Game Day to Missoula is all about using social media to gain momentum in showing Montana has what it takes to put on a show—on and off the field.
“But they're coming here for the environment, the game day environment, and that's the tailgating, that's everything that happens in Missoula on a college football weekend," said Taber. "And we all know that's awesome.”
Working with the Big Sky conference and their other connections, UM put together a website as their pitch to ESPN, complete with videos, graphics, and all things Montana football. Sign, send and deliver with a letter.
“And then we wrote a letter to one of their producers, that guy who like, makes these choices," said Taber. "And our athletic director sent the letter with the link to the pitch and all that kind of stuff. And we just had great feedback.”
If College GameDay were to come to the Griz-Cats game, the whole city and both universities would benefit as they bring in a national audience every week.
The plan right now is to have the production set up in the center of campus in the Oval, the week before the game. Game Day starts at 7 a.m. MST and is over at 10 a.m.
The final decision on if College GameDay will come to Missoula for the Cat versus Griz game will be decided around November 14. Until then, keep tagging @CollegeGameDay in your posts.
