Arizona is nationally known as a basketball school but after Saturday morning, that may be changing soon.
UA students and fans packed the mall in the late hours of Friday night and into Saturday morning to get as close a spot to the College GameDay stage as possible.
By 1:30 am Saturday, somewhere close to a thousand Wildcats supporters were already in line. That number only grew as the GameDay show grew closer.
By 6:00 am, the show went live in front of a backdrop of cardinal red and navy blue – and plenty of signs.
For the next three hours, Tucson, Arizona was the epicenter of the college football world. Fans from all over the country caught glimpse of the Wildcats’ fervent fan base huddled in front of a distant Old Main.
Rich Rod confirms Scooby will play
The biggest question all week regarding Arizona football was whether All-American linebacker Scooby Wright would play against UCLA.
According to Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, the answer is yes.
“You will see No. 33 on the field,” Rodriguez said during a GameDay segment.
Wright, who practiced all week, has made a speedy recovery after suffering a meniscus lateral tear in the Wildcats’ season opener versus UTSA.
Favorite GameDay signs
Creating clever signs and posters is a weekly College GameDay tradition, and on Saturday Arizona fans delivered.
From UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen’s youth to usual ASU banter, just about anything was fair game.
Here are just a few of our favorites:
“Hogwarts was Scooby’s backup school”
“Josh Rosen listens to Meek Mill”
“Nic Cage follows Anu Solomon on Twitter”
“Beyonce hates ASU”
Bob Baffert, Lee Corso pick Arizona to win
UA alum and Triple Crown winning trainer Bob Baffert was GameDay’s guest picker, and as expected, he picked his alma mater to win tonight’s top 25 matchup.
But it was GameDay analyst Lee Corso’s pick that fans were holding their breath for
So when the 80 year old analyst pulled out the Wilbur mascot head, the ZonaZoo and all Arizona fans in attendance went ballistic.
Saturday marked the first time Corso picked Arizona to win a College GameDay matchup.
Arizona fans now have most of Saturday to recover before the Wildcats take on UCLA at 5:00 pm. The game will be televised on ABC.
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