If you haven’t heard by now, there was a football game in Morgantown this weekend that brought a few people to town.
Lightning strikes in the area just after the start of halftime led to a more than two-hour delay in the game. When the third quarter — of the game that kicked off at noon — started, thousands of fans who had waited out the delay in the stadium concourses, made their way back to their seats.
The hopeful energy that began Friday with a live broadcast of “The Pat McAfee Show” in downtown Morgantown continued pulsing from the parking lots between J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and Milan Puskar Stadium as thousands made their way to see the WVU Mountaineers take on Penn State.
Walking through the plethora of tailgates, it was clear fans believed this could be a special season. “Let’s Go” was the common greeting, even among strangers.
The occasional “We Are” chant broke out from the guests from Happy Valley, but they were quickly overpowered by some of the more enthusiastic Mountaineer fans.
For many, the hotspot of pre-game festivities — which was quite literally a hot spot on the 90+ degree morning — was the Almost Heaven Village near the East Gate, where the Fox Sports Big Noon Kickoff Show was broadcasting live.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of fans gathered around the set creating a sea of blue and gold behind analysts Brady Quinn, Chris Fallica, Matt Leinart, Rob Stone, Urban Meyer, and Mark Ingram II, who briefly donned buckskin and a coonskin cap to start the show.
Just before 10 a.m. the attention was briefly diverted from the Fox crews to the real stars of the day, the West Virginia University football team, as players and coaches carried on the Mountaineer Mantrip tradition on their way into the stadium.
Two hours before kickoff, music artist Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) had the crowd rocking as he performed his new single “Lonely Road” — which is inspired by John Denver’s “Country Roads.”
Before the crowd departed for the big show, Mountaineer football legends Bruce Irvin and Tayvon Austin led the crowd in a karaoke sing-along of the state’s unofficial theme song.
“What I wouldn’t give to hear this song one more time today,” one WVU fan said in passing, referencing the school’s tradition of singing “Country Roads” together after a win.
