Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and Fox's Big Noon Kickoff were one of two pregame shows on campus prior to Saturday's game vs. Penn State. (David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State and Penn State was the big game of the weekend in college football. On a morning with two top-10 teams facing off in Columbus, the hours before the game were about the dueling pregame shows: ESPN’s College GameDay and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff.

The two shows did their broadcasts on opposite ends of Ohio Stadium. College GameDay went live from just outside St. John Arena, with the crowd extending all the way down to Woody Hayes Drive across from the stadium. Big Noon Kickoff was off to the southeast, broadcasting from just in front of Ohio State’s RPAC.

The fans were out in full force with plenty of signs making fun of Penn State coach James Franklin and quarterback Sean Clifford as you would expect.

One such came from Amy Colli, who is an Ohio State fan from Pennsylvania and brought in a sign that said, “James Franklin watches The Bachelor.” After getting a giant cutout picture of Franklin from Staples, she made the six-hour drive west to Columbus for College GameDay and the game.

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"Living in Pennsylvania, I’m like really happy to be around a bunch of Ohio State fans because we don’t have many there,” Colli said.

The College GameDay atmosphere was about as expected, with fans packing the area behind the stage with an assortment of signs. And as they usually do at Ohio State, fans booed anytime Desmond Howard spoke or anytime the mention of Penn State or Jim Harbaugh and Michigan came up.

GameDay had the spotlight all to itself for an hour before Big Noon Kickoff went live at 10 a.m. As expected, many fans made their way to that end of the stadium to watch the Fox show, featuring former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.

The crowd, as expected, gave him the loudest cheer when the panel was introduced. Among the people that was in the crowd was Kendra Madaris, a Columbus native who was attending her last home game as a college student with several of her friends.

“We really just love Urban. This is our last game in the ‘Shoe. What better place to spend it than with Urban?” Madaris said.

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With Thanksgiving around the corner, Madaris crafted a Thanksgiving-themed sign featuring Chase Young about to carve into a turkey with the face of the Penn State mascot.

As expected, some fans attended both shows, leaving GameDay after 9 to head to the Big Noon Kickoff set.

Cody Barnhart from Greenfield, Ohio went to both before Saturday’s game. He got him, his father, Bruce, and his brother, Joe, tickets to the game as a Christmas present.

Barnhart spent his week making his sign for the two shows, coming up with the concept by Tuesday and by Friday, it was built and weatherproofed in case of rain, which was in the forecast but didn’t come in the early hours.

He made his sign about Joe Burrow, writing on it, “Proof that an SEC starter would be a Buckeye backup,” referencing about how the LSU star grad transferred from Ohio State when he lost the starting job to Dwayne Haskins last season.

“I’m pro-Burrow,” Barnhart said. “I actually went to college at (Ohio), where Joe Burrow is from in Athens, Ohio. So I’m totally fine with him. It’s just a funny point to make.”

Both shows brought out the stars on Saturday, with UFC heavyweight champion and Euclid native Stipe Miocic appearing on GameDay and former Ohio State national champion quarterback Cardale Jones joining Fox for the “Urban’s Playbook” segment.

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Here are more of the best signs from GameDay and Big Noon Kickoff. They included references to Chase Young returning from suspension, making fun of Franklin and Harbaugh and even a mention of the new "gonna tell my kids..." meme.

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