GameDay goes to Williams-Amherst game

ESPN GameDay is going to a Division III game for the first time in its history this Saturday, visiting Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts for the "Biggest Little Game in America," the 122nd annual showdown between rivals Williams and Amherst.

Comments

[Sandy Underpants]

Wow, it really must be the worst college football season in history if this is the big game on Saturday.

[Jon]

I'm a Williams alum,

We may be called the "Ephs", our mascot the Purple Cow, the crowds small, but some of the best football I've seen is at the Williams Amherst football games.

Go Ephs! Crush the defectors of 1821!

http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/wms_amherst/

[Anonymous Hoosier]

Go Ephs! ESPN actually came to Williams before, in 1995, when the game was televised live on ESPN2.

Unfortunately, weeks of rain (and, IIRC, melting snow -- I think there was snow accumulation in Williamstown that year in every month September through May) turned the field into a mud pit, and the teams played to a sloppy, ugly 0-0 tie, in a game that featured 20 punts. Williams nearly lost the game on a ball that escaped the punter's hands in the end zone, but that he miraculously recovered -- and punted away -- to preserve the tie.

We figured the ratings probably hovered near zero and that a chastened ESPN would never return.

Oh the agony... is it worth driving all night to see Gameday visit the Purple Valley?