In case you haven’t heard by now, Florida A&M University will be the host campus for this Saturday’s edition of the ESPN College GameDay broadcast.

College GameDay is the most entertaining and in-depth telecast dedicated to college football, and it is unique in that the program travels around the country to campuses hosting some of the biggest games in the sport.

This will be the program’s first visit to a historically black college campus in the program’s 21-year history, and only the second time that the program has broadcast from a black college football game. Their first meeting with black college football was in 2005, when GameDay traveled to Houston, TX on location for the Bayou Classic between Southern University and Grambling State University.

FAMU has a unique opportunity to present black college football to millions of college football fans around the world. Here’s five things the institution can do to ensure that the presentation is the best it can be.

5. Engage the Tallahassee community - Obviously, every residential student at FAMU needs to be front and center for this game. Messages should be going out now to all student email boxes, professors, and in all common areas promoting this thing. But more than the campus community, it would be nice for black college football fans throughout the city to feel welcome on campus that day.

4. Sound the Alumni Alert - The GameDay news is already present on many message boards, but it wouldn’t hurt for local and regional alumni associations to get involved. Tailgating, step shows, the Rattler Nation should be in full force to show the broadest picture of the black college experience. Not only will it boost the school’s profile, but it could engage disconnected alumni and spur giving to the university.

3. Demand the Cooperation of the MEAC Administration - So far, MEACSports.com has a front page message about College GameDay. Good, but not great. When you consider how many people will probably be visiting the web page for more info about FAMU and the conference at large, the MEAC should be on the ball with having everything updated. A good start would be looking at the Media Center archives and making sure that FAMU-Hampton is one of their streaming live events.

2. Make Sure FAMURattlerSports.com is Updated - Good Lord, I’m hoping this is just my browser or cookies or something, but do I still see news on the conference’s preseason picks on the front page? Come on.

1. Be Sure to Upgrade the Mascot Head - Because the last thing you want is for Lee Corso to put on a sweaty, funky Rattler head when he picks FAMU to win convincingly over Hampton.


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