The sun had barely risen, and the bars along North High Street were already packed with scarlet and gray.
Dozens of tailgaters unpacked their cars in the shadow of Ohio Stadium for a morning of festivities.
Fans showed up hours earlier to line up for their chance to be on ESPN’s College GameDay.
Buckeyes football season has officially arrived.
Fans from Ohio State and Texas flooded the area around the ’Shoe on Saturday morning for what is arguably the biggest season opener in college football history.
Tim and Ally Kindinger drove from Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the game. Tim, a Defiance, Ohio, native, and Ally, whose family hails from the Dallas area, are a house divided.
The Kindingers attended the Cotton Bowl earlier this year, when the Buckeyes beat the Longhorns 28-14.
“It’s a good thing OSU won because I’m a bad sport, and she isn’t,” Tim said.
The couple wore split jerseys — half scarlet and half orange — as they waited for College GameDay to start. Though they’re both looking forward to spending the day together, Ally said she’s hoping for a better outcome this time around.
Many of the attendees at College GameDay were Ohio State University students. But there were a few notable exceptions.
Brenda Barriot hoisted a sign above her head from the front row that stated, “It took me 72 yr’s to get to Game Day. Go Bucks!!”
Barriot, of Westerville, took an Uber to Ohio Stadium with her sister Kelly and nephew Kaleb Watkins in tow. Some of her new 20-something-year-old friends helped escort her to the front of the crowd for her shot to be featured on the show.
“It’s everything. Just being in front, having the chance to be on TV,” she said. “And Lee Corso’s retirement is just icing on the cake.”
ESPN’s Lee Corso returns to where it all began for his final show
Though the Buckeyes and Longhorns were the biggest draw to this game, longtime ESPN commentator Lee Corso was a close third.
Corso celebrated his retirement and final show by returning to Columbus, the first city he made his famous headgear picks at in 1996 when he hoisted a Brutus mascot head over his own.
Many of the signs in the GameDay crowd honored Corso’s storied career. Others waved cutouts of Corso’s face. Chants of “We love Lee” punctuated the show’s soundtrack throughout the morning.
Corso stepped onto the stage in a black tuxedo to cheers for the crowd.
He teased the crowd by lifting up Ohio State and Texas football helmets, alternating between the two.
Behind him, an elated Brutus Buckeye hyped up the crowd. But Brutus wasn’t the only mascot showing up for Corso. Mascots from Notre Dame, the University of Alabama, the University of Oregon and Louisiana State University also made an appearance at GameDay.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Rise and shine: Ohio State Buckeyes fans ready and raring to go against Texas Longhorns
Reporting by Sheridan Hendrix, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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