'College GameDay' Hosts Were Woefully Unprepared For The Rose Bowl Monsoon

We have ourselves a sloppy, wet mess at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

After rain fell nearly all day on Wednesday, thunderstorms rolled in on Thursday morning ahead of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers and No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide. And when we say "thunderstorms," we don't mean a quick cell passed through. Nay, we're talking extended torrential downpours.

Sure, groundskeepers threw the tarp down, but it can only do so much. The ESPN broadcast showed staffers out in the elements and fighting for their lives with squeegees in an attempt to keep the field from flooding.

"These guys are gamers out there," Kirk Herbstreit said on College GameDay. "If you watch the game later, and it looks immaculate, tip of the cap to these guys."

After watching their squeegee efforts prove largely futile, though, he added: "I don't know if that's working?"

McAfee chimed in: "That's what I'm thinking, I don't know how many squeegees they've got."

But the show must go on. The show, of course, being ESPN's College GameDay. And it looks like the entire panel (except Rece Davis) forgot to check the weather forecast before rolling into Pasadena.

"The dawn of the new year brings resolutions and resolve — things that my coworkers could do, like remembering to bring a raincoat," Davis joked, as the camera zoomed out to show Herbstreit with a rag on his head and towels draped over Nick Saban's back.

McAfee, too, looked shell-shocked as the rain poured down over the GameDay set.

Perhaps no one took more heat on social media, though, than Herbstreit, who was forced to improvise with anything he could find to battle the rain — towels, ponchos, ESPN crew jackets and a variety of ball caps clearly purchased from the Rose Bowl gift shop.

Obviously, the real concern is not about the GameDay hosts ruining their expensive suits but, rather, how this rain could affect the game itself, which kicks off at 1 p.m. local time.

Both coaches were asked on Wednesday about the potential rainy conditions. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said his team hasn't played in much rain this season, and it will have to adjust based on the severity of it.

"You try to prepare and practice with a wet ball and things like that, whether it's snapping the football, catching the football, throwing it, whatever it is. But in the end, we've just got to adapt," DeBoer said. "Obviously, ball security and turnovers are something that I think everyone would acknowledge would be critical when the factors could be rain like it looks to be."

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, though, doesn't expect the weather "to be a real critical factor in the game."

"I don't see it changing our game plan very much," he said.

That's the spirit. Besides, if it gets too soggy down there, they can always grab a hat from the gift shop.