Chris Armel (left) and Neil Reynolds would like to welcome you to GameDay.

I couldn’t sleep last night. Had nothing to do with the deadline rush or the mind racing through the game … or the fact I may have fallen asleep in the second half and therefore threw off my internal clock. No, I was thinking about what I’d seen leaving the Coliseum.

Students were already camping out for Saturday’s GameDay circus.

“Dedication,” said Neil Reynolds, a 19-year-old freshman from St. Albans.

Temperatures dropped to levels Wednesday night that would have made the the coolest stock broker cringe. And yet after WVU had exorcised the DePaul Blue Demons, Reynolds, Aaron Booth, Max Carozza, Sean Cornelius, David Smith and Joe Schultz arrived outside the Coliseum’s gold gate 72 hours before the Mountaineers play host to No. 6 Louisville in the regular-season finale.

“By Friday,” Reynolds said, “there’ll be 12 of us in there.”

He pointed toward a gold and blue tent that somehow slept six Wednesday night and will attempt to house twice that tomorrow night.

“We thought of this several weeks ago when we got an e-mail saying they were doing GameDay here,” Reynolds said. “We wanted to make sure we were here first so we could sit up front and get on TV.”

They were indeed first and spent the night passing a football, listening to music and trying desperately to stay warm. I told four people last night what I’d seen leaving the Coliseum. One person simply replied, “Wow.” I thought that was entirely appropriate until the three others replied with incredulity and wondering if I was “bleeping” kidding or if the students were “bleeping” crazy. Or both.

I began to wonder if even the Donner Party had been subjected to such skepticism. I nearly went back to talk to the kids for the blog.

Nearly.

“It was pretty cold,” Reynolds admitted.

They made it through the night and Reynolds was at his political science exam early in the morning while the choreographed shifts started to keep their spot. The plan was working.

Perfectly.

Later in the morning, Chris Armel’s phone rang.

“Man,” the voice said on the other end, “they’re already there.”

Armel, a 19-year-old freshman from Jefferson County, knew who “they” were.

“Actually, we told everybody we’d be here Friday morning,” Reynolds said. “We pulled a sneak attack.”

It was friendly fun. Armel arrived around 11:30 a.m. and settled for second. His crew, which will grow to about 10 or so by Friday, knows Reynolds and his crew.

“I wasn’t worried about being first really,” said Armel, who gets extra credit for living in Boreman South … and the J Entry. “I just wanted to do this. It’ll all be worth it when the game comes.”

They understand people think they’re nuts — at the very least. They don’t mind that, nor do they care to chat with the amazed people who pass by and remind them it’s going to be cold again tonight. Why, Alex Ruoff swung by earlier in the day and couldn’t help himself. “Nice tent.”

“It’s college,” Reynolds said. “It’s something I can tell my grandkids about.”

They figure they’ll have more company Friday evening, but that will make them no less special. Come on, you think these kids pulled this off without something bigger planned beyond merely camping?

“It involves painting our chests,” Reynolds said.

“Should we tell him?” Armel asked Reynolds.

“Let’s save it,” Reynolds said. “You’ll see it on TV.”