MORGANTOWN — Ralph Mullins first walked through the quad at the WVU Life Sciences Building at 7 a.m., just to get an early view of the scenery.
“There were probably about 20 students already in the area, maybe a little bit more than that,” he said.
When the Westover resident returned at 9 a.m., “It had changed dramatically,” he said.
By the time Pat McAfee took the stage for “The Pat McAfee Show,” broadcasting live at noon Friday on WVU’s downtown campus, the blue-and-gold-clad crowd had grown into the small thousands.
Fans filled the quad and then overtook the hillside to the back of Woodburn Hall, all of them ready to take part of the hype party for Saturday’s football showdown against No. 8 Penn State.
Among them was retired Morgantown resident John Rockey, who had perched his fold-out chair in the shade provided by a large maple tree. He’d been waiting there since 9 a.m.
“I think I just wanted to be part of all the excitement,” Rockey said. “I do watch Pat’s show a lot, but this is also such a big moment for this state and this university. I just wanted to see it for myself.”
McAfee, a former Mountaineer kicker and the school’s all-time leading scorer with 384 points during his career (2005-08), didn’t exactly disappoint in his return to Morgantown.
He chugged a beer — on live TV — given to him by WVU football coach Neal Brown. He awarded a year’s tuition to the first four students who had arrived on scene and waited.
“Some of these students have been here since 4 a.m.,” McAfee said on the show.
He predicted WVU quarterback Garrett Greene would “run absolutely bonkers on the Penn State Nittany Lions.”
All of this before announcing his $1 million donation to Country Roads Trust, which handles NIL opportunities for WVU athletes.
“I’ve always liked Pat, because he’s always been one of us,” Mullins said. “I like his show, because you never really know what he’s going to do or say.
“He appeals to the younger crowd, because he’s got such energy. He’s a Mountaineer.”
Greene stopped by for a chat — the fans began a Heisman Trophy campaign for him with repeated chants — as did former WVU men’s basketball standout Deuce McBride, now a member of the New York Knicks.
McAfee’s former WVU teammates, Owen Schmitt and Pat White — each living legends in their own respects in Morgantown — were guest hosts.
Legendary football coach Nick Saban, a native of Monongah, gave his thoughts via a web cam.
“There is a buzz saw in Morgantown, and it’s a hard place to play,” Saban said. “The fans just have so much passion.”
McAfee referred to Saturday’s game as the “most-intense day in Morgantown in 30 years, as a chorus of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” broke out.
It has been a while since Morgantown has felt this type of vigor in the air.
“I can’t really remember when it’s felt quite like this around here for the opener,” said Rockey, a season-ticket holder who will be at the game. “The Pitt game last year was crazy, but that wasn’t an opener.
“I remember when ESPN was here for the LSU game (in 2011). They had GameDay at the Mountainlair. I was there for that, which was a lot of fun, too.”
Maybe it was Brown, now in his sixth year at WVU, who summed the moment up the best:
“When you got 1.8 million people behind you, it’s special,” he said on the show. “It’s our job to keep it going.”
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