There will be five good things about Saturday’s football game, none of which relate to football.

In a live broadcast, the local Ames band Good Things will be jamming among the tailgaters while promoting its latest CD “Fit the Groove” and the Des Moines radio station 107.5 KKDM.

The station is “trying to promote local music in Iowa,” Good Things lead guitarist Rob Merz said. “They have even played some of our stuff on the radio.”

Prior to Saturday’s event, Good Things will also appear on KKDM’s Mac and Amy show Friday morning.

However, the band’s day will not end after the tailgate appearance. Two more shows are on the venue for Saturday: one at People’s Bar and Grill after the game and a private party later that evening.

“It will be like playing two long sets and a show,” Merz said.

Fortunately, band members Merz, lead singer Maggie Kolbe, guitarist Jim Brennen, bassist Chad Noyes and drummer Jason Lasczak know the challenge they are about to face.

This summer, Good Things played 16 hours at the Captain’s Getaway in Okoboji, Iowa, over Fourth of July weekend.

“That was crazy,” Merz said.

With influences varying from Phish to the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell to Tool, Good Things fits into a groove all its own.

“What we play is not heavy really, kinda rock ‘n’ roll, kinda folky,” Merz said.

Merz once described the band as a mesh between The Why Store, Judybats and 10,000 Maniacs.

Although Good Things may not fit into a specific genre, it does seem to please audiences.

Since the band formed about a year and a half ago, “we have played big Midwest towns,” including Chicago and has produced a CD, “Fit the Groove,” that debuted last spring.

“We also did about 30 shows this summer,” Merz said. “About 10 were in Chicago.”

“However, we normally play one or two shows a month and after game shows,” he said.

Between touring and daily lives, the band has been making a slow progression in changing its sound since the release of its CD.

“We used to play stupid covers,” Merz said. “We were not good at all, but we were pretty good songwriters.”

The songwriting team consists of Kolbe writing the lyrics and Brennen and Merz writing the music.

“Now we’re trying to phase out covers and acoustics in every song,” Merz said. “We are moving towards faster, harder, more catchy rock songs.”

As more music is being written, Good Things may be looking to produce a new CD in the future.

“It will depend on where we’re at at the end of the year — both songwise and location wise,” Merz said. “But we have thought about a live CD.”

Like the Nadas, we found out that producing a CD is a long process,” Merz said.

With the help of Iowa State music professor Jeff Vallier and Vallier’s brother who has helped produce Don Henley and Bon Jovi, “Fit the Groove” took a “whole semester to record,” Merz said. “It was really frustrating for awhile.”

Looking back on it, “there are a lot of things I’d change, but overall, it’s a decent disc,” he said.

“Fit the Groove” is currently available in Ames, Des Moines and the Chicago area.

As for now, band members Merz and Lasczak are focusing on graduation. The band itself hopes to play more in Ames.

“We love playing in Ames,” Merz said. “It’s awesome to see how many people go to shows” and support local music.

“We feel at home here. We are at home here,” he said. “I just hope no one gets sick of us.”

The band will also be playing two shows next month at Chicago’s Waterloo Tavern and Gamekeepers.

“[Gamekeepers] is one of the few cool and mellow bars in Chicago,” Merz said. “It’s one of the few that is open until 5 a.m. and there is usually a line to get in at 2 a.m.”

Good Things will be playing in the Jack Trice Stadium parking lot Saturday from noon to 1:30 p.m. The show is free and open to the public.

The second performance at People’s will begin after the game until 8 p.m. The show will be 21 and over.