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She breezed past security, up a half dozen steps, set down a fat brown briefcase. Then, the slender blonde in a tan coat and dark scarf caught the attention of thousands of people.

"Erin! Erin! Erin!," the crowd chanted. Erin Andrews, ESPN's sideline superstar, turned toward the crowd, waved by raising her arms and clenching her hands a few times, while people screamed her name and offered varying testaments to her hotness.

And thus began the payoff for a long night, and for some, a previous long day spent at the base of Rice-Eccles Stadium in anticipation of College GameDay.

"You just wake up and you watch it before all the games," said Utah junior Broderick Ivey. "Why not get here a little extra early?"

After Andrews, the rest of the GameDay crew found their way to the stage. Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso all earned separate cheers, as they started their work days.

"Good morning," Fowler said to cheers. "How's it going out there Ute nation? It's still dark!"

Indeed, the show went live on ESPNU at 7 a.m., before dawn. Looking out on the crowd, Fowler called the presence of the fans an "awesome, awesome statement about Utah Utes football and their fans."

Then it was showtime.

"5...4...3...2...1."

The anticipation finally gave way to reality. It was still six hours before kickoff between the Utes and TCU in a huge BCS busting showdown.

"It may be quote 'non-AQ'," Fowler said, earning boos. "But in BCS terms, it gets no bigger than No. 3 versus No. 5."

Herbstreit said Utah is still not at the level of Boise State or TCU this season, but today's game "is Utah's chance … to maybe get into the discussion," but the winner of today's game would need help from top-ranked teams to get into a national title game.

Corso, perhaps sensing the Ute fans in attendance felt a bit disrespected, said, "I think the winner of this game should be considered for a national title."

Before the program went on air, and national personalities elicited cheers with what they said, stage managers directed fan interaction, telling them when to get rowdy. Without loud instructions, it's possible some folks in the back would have been clueless as to the events up front.

"I haven't seen much happening," said Steve Camacho, of Clearfield, who was attending with his 4-year-old son, Aydon. "But I'm a pretty big fan of the show so I know what's happening."

One of the more impressive groups of fans in the crowd was three generations of Ute fans: grandfather Bob Rich was there with his daughter Chris Parker and her son Justin. The trio has traveled to every Ute away game for the last three years, and obviously not missed a home game in that span, either.

That means they were in Fort Worth last year when GameDay was in attendance for the last matchup between the Utes and Horned Frogs.

"It was on the same day," Rich said.

Chris looked at him, "But the score's going to be different this year."

"Let's hope," her dad replied.

— Bill Oram