Kirk Herbstreit on Tennessee fans: 'The most visiting fans at a College GameDay' in 29 years
An Ohio State fan passed Tennessee fans in the street in downtown Columbus Saturday morning and had a question. Actually, two questions.
“Another one?” the Buckeye fans said. “Where do you all keep crawling out from? It’s about to be a long night.”
The long night reference was in favor of No. 8 Ohio State, which hosts No. 9 Tennessee Saturday night (8 Eastern Time, ABC/ESPN) in the first round of the College Football Playoff at Ohio Stadium.
Tennessee fans swarming around the stadium, Ohio State campus and downtown made for a long morning in the lead up to the highly anticipated nightcap for Saturday’s playoff triple header.
“29th year of doing @CollegeGameDay and this is by far the most fans from the visiting team I’ve ever seen”@KirkHerbstreit #GBO | @CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/EtsdAgGA1N
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) December 21, 2024
Tennessee-Ohio State winner advances to Rose Bowl vs. No. 1 Oregon
Kirk Herbstreit, the former Ohio State quarterback and longtime ESPN college football analyst, put it into perspective both before and during ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from just outside Ohio Stadium Saturday morning.
“Real quick, honestly,” Herbstreit said during the show. “(This is) the 29th year doing College GameDay and this is by far the most fans from a visiting team that I’ve ever seen at a College GameDays. By far. The most visiting fans at a College GameDay.”
He was asked about the number of Tennessee fans he had seen during a segment on Sportscenter before the GameDay broadcast, too.
“I see a lot of Vols fans here,” Herbstreit said. “Look at this. There has been a lot of buildup, a lot of talk, about Tennessee, the Vol Nation invade Columbus. It’s early … but there’s a lot of orange. I see a lot of orange on a Saturday morning.”
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A Ticketmaster presale code leaked online last week, allowing Tennessee fans to get a head start on the ticket-buying process. The Vols were given 3,500 tickets by Ohio State, as mandated by College Football Playoff rules.
“Usually as a visiting team you get 3,500 tickets,” Herbstreit said. “There’s speculation that there may be 20,000 or 30,000 Tennessee fans. So when you ask me what’s the vibe, it’s very different from your traditional home-field advantage of an Ohio State game. The Vols, as we know, travel, and they’re here. They’re here and ready to roll.”
Dylan Sampson: ‘I can’t wait to get out there and see a whole bunch of orange’
Volquest was told Friday that 20,000 tickets had been transferred to Tennessee season-ticket holders for the game and that the estimate of 30,000 wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Running back Dylan Sampson said earlier this week that he wasn’t surprised to hear the talk of Tennessee fans traveling in bunches to Columbus. After all, Sampson, a native of Baton Rouge, La., was at Tiger Stadium in 2022 when Tennessee fans took over during a 40-13 win over LSU.
“It felt like a home game,” Sampson said. “That’s what I expect from Tennessee fans (at Ohio State). I can’t wait to get out there and see a whole bunch of orange.”
