Imagine spending hundreds to see College Gameday coming to you, only to realize they aren’t? This massive blunder cost fans of a talented team big time, who thought the program was finally getting a chance to be on the national stage. Hours later, the show dealt them a brutal reality check.

College GameDay will be traveling to Eugene for Week 13 to cover the USC game. This is a rare occurrence for the show, as it doesn’t usually return to a venue they’ve already been at during the season. But before that, JMU fans had already spent their funds buying tickets to the upcoming Washington State game. This was after JMU Sports News shared that the show was coming to Harrisonburg. The move would’ve been an equally rare feat for College GameDay, since it centers itself around P4 schools. The stakes for the game got even bigger, and ticket prices shot up to $300.

However, on Sunday morning, College GameDay announced its actual location, breaking the hearts of numerous JMU fans. JMU Sports News claimed in its apology online that it had a “trusted source” for the news. According to the platform, the source was involved in GameDay’s “decision-making,” making the news look credible. Fans, absolutely livid with the development, bashed the publication left and right for the mix-up.

A media source sharing false information on such a scale was a tremendous error on JMU Sports News’ part. “This is an embarrassing mistake. We apologize for the significant error,” the page wrote in a message. Co-founder Jack Fitzpatrick was also forced to own up to the blunder. “We’ve spent the past 8 years working on @JMUSportsNews to create something we could be proud of and last night’s mistake is not that,” he wrote on X. “Honestly not sure what the future holds for JMUSN at this point,” he added.

The move to declare their accountability hasn’t been enough for JMU Sports News. The publication has even put up a poll on their X page, asking if they should delete their account altogether. If that’s the risk the outlet is willing to take, we can imagine the reaction that is still barraging through its doors.

Fans didn’t like Pat McAfee focus on the Week 12 GameDay

College GameDay is itself embroiled in a controversy. The show travelled to Pittsburgh for the Notre Dame game. However, before the location was revealed, rumors circulated that the show would make a historic trip to the famed D2 rivalry, the Battle of the Ravine. Played between Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist, the rivalry has been in place for 130 years. This is precisely the kind of picture that JMU fans were dealing with. Rece Davis had even pitched to the show about visiting the exciting rivalry.

Naturally, fans decided to give it back to the show for ruining their hopes. Moreover, they targeted Pat McAfee for having emerged as the more dominant figure on the panel. “I’m going to be physically ill when they inevitably make the entire GameDay about McAfee being from Pittsburgh and not about the school hosting it,” one fan wrote. “Perfect example of why folks don’t watch ESPN anymore – TV personality and his wild antics wins out over the story,” another fan commented. Pat McAfee is a loud figure, he himself will attest to that. It’s what makes him such an attention-grabbing presence after all. But not all are impressed by it.

College GameDay is all about the theatrics. They choose the biggest possible stages for the show instead of going to these highlight-worthy programs on the lower rungs of college football. Fans enjoy them just as much, despite not being celebrated like the ones at the top. Programs like JMU are often overlooked by those who have the opportunity to highlight their efforts. The Washington State clash is sure to be a disappointing one for fans who paid those steep prices for the tickets.