College GameDay (football TV program)


College GameDay is a pre-game show broadcast by ESPN as part of the network's coverage of college football, broadcast on Saturday mornings during the college football season, prior to the start of games with a 12:00 pm ET kickoff. In its current form, the program is typically broadcast from the campus of the team hosting a featured game being played that day and features news and analysis of the day's upcoming games.
It first aired in 1987 with Tim Brando as host and Lee Corso and Beano Cook as commentators, giving an overview of college football games, but the show underwent a radical transformation beginning in 1993, and began incorporating live broadcasts. Today, the only original cast member remaining is Lee Corso, whose appearances have been pre-scripted since suffering a stroke in 2009. Rece Davis serves as host and Kirk Herbstreit is Corso's counterpart. Desmond Howard was added to the cast of the show in 2008. Craig James served as an analyst from 1990 to 1995. Erin Andrews joined the GameDay crew as a co-host and contributor in 2010, replaced in 2012 by Samantha Ponder. In 2015, Rece Davis replaced Chris Fowler as host of the show. In 2010, the program was expanded from two to three hours, with the opening hour broadcast on ESPNU until 2013.
The show is known for its prediction segment that appears at the end of each broadcast. Typically there are four predictors: Corso, Herbstreit, Howard, and an invited guest, usually a celebrity, prominent athlete, or radio personality associated with the host school for that week. The show always concludes with Corso's prediction for the host school's game, after which he dons the mascot's headgear of the team he predicts to win the game, usually to the ire or excitement of local fans. As of January 13, 2020, Corso is 228-121 in his headgear picks. His first headgear pick occurred on October 5, 1996, when he correctly picked the Ohio State Buckeyes over the Penn State Nittany Lions. In 2018, Corso made his first NFL headgear pick when, as a guest on Sunday NFL Countdown, he correctly picked the New Orleans Saints to win their Week 9 game at home against the Los Angeles Rams.
Alabama – LSU is the most featured matchup, appearing 11 times on College Gameday. The next closest is Ohio State – Penn State with 10 appearances. Florida – Florida State and Florida – Tennessee currently sit at 8.

Personalities

Current

In 1993, GameDay began broadcasting live from outside a stadium hosting a game most Saturdays. The selected stadium is usually hosting one of the biggest matchups of the day, regardless of whether the game airs on an ESPN network. The first show "on the road" took place at South Bend, Indiana for the match-up between #2 Notre Dame and #1 FSU on November 13.
The show takes on a festive tailgate party atmosphere, as thousands of fans gather behind the broadcast set, in view of the show's cameras. Many fans bring flags or hand-painted signs as well, and the school's cheerleaders and mascots often join in the celebration. Crowds at GameDay tapings are known to be quite boisterous and very spirited. Flags seen at the broadcast are not limited to those of the home team; for example, one large Washington State flag can be seen at every broadcast, regardless of the location or the teams involved. The idea began in 2003 on WSU online fan forums and has resulted in the flag, nicknamed "Ol' Crimson," being present at over 200 consecutive GameDay broadcasts since 2003.
The show's current intro and theme music is performed by country music duo Big & Rich, who perform their 2005 crossover hit "Comin' to Your City" with revised lyrics which mention several top college teams and a guest appearance by Cowboy Troy. Rap artist Travie McCoy now appears in the intro for this show, starting with 2014 season, as well as Lzzy Hale, lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock group Halestorm. Additional music that has been used for the show include "Boom" by the rock group P.O.D. and God Bless Saturday by Kid Rock.
.Typically, the show will end with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit issuing their predictions for that day's key matchups, finishing with the game to be played at the stadium hosting GameDay, for which Corso signifies his prediction by donning the head piece of the mascot of his predicted winner. Starting with the 2009 season, a celebrity guest picker gives picks for the day's key games alongside the GameDay regulars. Prior to 2009, this was not done on a regular basis. Herbstreit, who in 2006 became a game analyst for ABC's Saturday Night Football, is not allowed to make a pick for the game at which he is assigned due to parent company Disney's conflict-of-interest rules; however, he is allowed to give one or two keys to the game.
In past years, when no suitably important game was available, it would originate instead from the ESPN studios. In 2017, with no suitably important game available, one show aired from Times Square instead.
College GameDay was also a source for many arguments regarding the purported east coast bias: From 1993 until 2004, GameDay had only been to two regular season games on the entire West Coast. Given the popularity of the show and the media coverage it brought to the highlighted game, teams and fans of the West Coast teams felt that the show was only magnifying the perceived problems with excess media focus on East, South and Midwest games; ESPN attributed its lack of West Coast games to the need for a very early start time and an alleged lack of high quality matchups.
With the addition of the Saturday Night Football game on ABC in 2006, GameDay has increasingly aired from that game. This could be done for many reasons including the fact Kirk Herbstreit is on both programs, thus making it easier for him. Another reason could be to give the Saturday Night Football game added exposure.
Beginning with the show's 21st season, College GameDay began broadcasting in high-definition on ESPN HD.
College GameDay expanded to 3 hours, with the first hour being televised on ESPNU beginning September 4, 2010. In addition, ESPN Radio simulcasts the television version from 9am-noon ET. Other changes include the addition of a female contributor—first Erin Andrews in 2010 and 2011, and then Samantha Ponder after Andrews left ESPN for Fox following the 2011 season. Both Andrews and Ponder have anchored several segments during the first hour on ESPNU, contributed during the ESPN portion, and also worked as a sideline reporter on the game from which College GameDay originated, if it aired on one of the ESPN family of networks.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the third hour moved to ESPN and was hosted by Fowler. Starting in 2014, the show began a now annual visit to the Army-Navy Game in mid-December. As of 2018, the entire show is simulcast on both ESPN and ESPNU.
As previously mentioned, beginning with the 29th season, Rece Davis replaced Chris Fowler as the football version's new host. Fowler, in turn, switched to play-by-play duties on ABC's Saturday Night Football.
In March 2018, ESPN announced that it would broadcast a special edition of College GameDay from Arlington, Texas, as a pre-show for its coverage of day 1 of the 2018 NFL Draft. The broadcast accompanied a secondary telecast of the draft on ESPN2, which was hosted by the College GameDay panelists.
As of 2018, College GameDay has collected eight Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Studio Show, tied with TNT's Inside the NBA for the most wins by an analysis program.

Locations

Division I-A/FBS rankings are from the AP Poll at the time of the game. FCS rankings are from the STATS LLC poll at the time of the game.

1993

Appearances through January 13, 2020
in Birmingham.
until 2018.
SchoolAppearancesHostedRecordWin PctLast Hosted
Alabama471430–17November 9, 2019
Ohio State471933–14November 23, 2019
Florida411326–15October 5, 2019
Oklahoma37724–13October 27, 2012
Florida State341117–17October 18, 2014
LSU331321–12October 12, 2019
Michigan311215–16October 13, 2018
Notre Dame30913–17September 1, 2018
Oregon261015–11September 22, 2018
USC241018–6November 16, 2013
Georgia2347–16September 21, 2019
Clemson23515–8August 29, 2019
Miami21713–8November 11, 2017
Penn State2178–13October 19, 2019
Tennessee21910–11September 24, 2016
Auburn20910–10November 25, 2017
Wisconsin1987–12November 18, 2017
Nebraska1779–8September 28, 2019
Texas17710–7September 7, 2019
Michigan State1488–6September 12, 2015
Virginia Tech1464–10September 30, 2017
Stanford1116–5November 12, 2011
Army913–6September 27, 2003
Iowa822–6September 30, 2006
Oklahoma State861–7November 4, 2017
South Carolina873–5September 27, 2014
Texas A&M861–7September 8, 2018
UCLA813–5October 17, 1998
TCU736–1September 15, 2018
Washington721–6November 12, 2016
Navy703–4N/A
Colorado632–4September 14, 1996
Kansas State621–5October 14, 2000
Missouri613–3October 23, 2010
Georgia Tech520–5September 2, 2006
Utah542–3October 29, 2016
Louisville422–2September 16, 2017
Texas Tech411–3November 1, 2008
West Virginia421–3November 1, 2014
Baylor431–3November 16, 2019
Air Force332–1November 7, 2009
Arizona320–3September 26, 2015
Arizona State310–3October 1, 2005
Boston College331–2November 10, 2018
California301–2N/A
North Dakota State323–0September 13, 2014
Northwestern321–2October 5, 2013
Ole Miss312–1October 4, 2014
Oregon State310–3December 4, 2010
Purdue311–2October 16, 2004
Washington State311–2October 20, 2018
Arkansas211–1November 11, 2006
BYU210–2October 24, 2009
Harvard211–1November 22, 2014
Illinois201–1N/A
James Madison221–1October 14, 2017
North Carolina210–2November 8, 1997
Mississippi State211–1October 11, 2014
Pittsburgh221–1September 3, 2005
SMU200–2N/A
Syracuse200–2N/A
UCF211–1November 17, 2018
Boise State111–0September 25, 2010
Bowling Green111–0October 25, 2003
Florida A&M111–0November 15, 2008
Houston111–0November 19, 2011
Indiana110–1August 31, 2017
Iowa State110–1September 14, 2019
Kentucky110–1October 20, 2007
Memphis111–0November 2, 2019
Minnesota110–1November 30, 2019
NC State110–1October 23, 2004
Temple110–1October 31, 2015
Penn111–0November 16, 2002
South Dakota State110–1October 26, 2019
Vanderbilt111–0October 4, 2008
Western Michigan111–0November 19, 2016
Williams111–0November 10, 2007
Amherst100–1N/A
Buffalo100–1N/A
Cincinnati100–1N/A
Delaware State100–1N/A
East Carolina100–1N/A
Grambling State101–0N/A
Hampton100–1N/A
Incarnate Word100–1N/A
Kansas100–1N/A
Northern Illinois100–1N/A
Richmond101–0N/A
South Florida101–0N/A
Southern100–1N/A
Troy101–0N/A
Villanova100–1N/A
Yale100–1N/A

Frequent Matchups

College Gameday has attended several particular matchups with regularity.
Team 1Team 2MatchupsRecordLast AppearanceLast Result
AlabamaLSU11Alabama 9−2November 9, 2019LSU 46–41
Ohio StatePenn State10Ohio State 8−2November 23, 2019Ohio State 28–17
FloridaFlorida State8Tied 4−4November 28, 2009Florida 37–10
FloridaTennessee8Florida 6−2September 24, 2016Tennessee 38–28
AlabamaAuburn7Alabama 4−3November 25, 2017Auburn 26–14
Florida StateMiami7Miami 4−3November 2, 2013Florida State 41–14
MichiganNotre Dame7Michigan 5−2September 1, 2018Notre Dame 24–17
AlabamaGeorgia6Alabama 4−2December 1, 2018Alabama 35–28
ArmyNavy6Tied 3−3December 14, 2019Navy 31–7
MichiganOhio State6Ohio State 5−1November 24, 2018Ohio State 62–39
OklahomaOklahoma State6Oklahoma 6−0November 4, 2017Oklahoma 62–52
OklahomaTexas6Tied 3−3October 6, 2018Texas 48–45
FloridaLSU5LSU 3−2October 12, 2019LSU 42–28
GeorgiaLSU5LSU 4−1December 7, 2019LSU 37–10
Notre DameUSC5USC 3−2November 24, 2012Notre Dame 22–13
AlabamaClemson4Tied 2−2January 7, 2019Clemson 44–16
FloridaGeorgia4Florida 3−1October 27, 2018Georgia 36–17
MichiganWisconsin4Michigan 3−1October 13, 2018Michigan 38–13
Michigan StateOhio State4Tied 2−2November 21, 2015Michigan State 17–14
OregonStanford4Tied 2−2September 22, 2018Stanford 38–31 OT
AuburnFlorida3Florida 2−1October 5, 2019Florida 24–13
ClemsonFlorida State3Florida State 3-0September 20, 2014Florida State 23–17 OT
FloridaMiami3Florida 2-1August 24, 2019Florida 24–20
Florida StateNotre Dame3Notre Dame 2-1October 18, 2014Florida State 31–27
IowaOhio State3Ohio State 3-0September 30, 2006Ohio State 38–17
Kansas StateOklahoma3Oklahoma 3-0September 29, 2001Oklahoma 38–37
MiamiVirginia Tech3Miami 2-1November 5, 2005Miami 27–7
MichiganMichigan State3Michigan State 2-1October 17, 2015Michigan State 27–23
MichiganPenn State3Penn State 3-0October 19, 2019Penn State 28–21
MissouriOklahoma3Oklahoma 2-1October 23, 2010Missouri 36–27
OregonUCLA3Oregon 2-1October 26, 2013Oregon 42–14
TexasTexas Tech3Texas 2-1September 19, 2009Texas 34–24

Celebrity Guest Pickers

& NBA basketball player Charles Barkley was the first celebrity guest picker on the October 2 show in 2004 & has also made the most show appearances with 5, with his most recent appearance on the December 8th show in 2018. Olympian & Arizona swimmer, Amanda Beard was the first women celebrity guest picker on the November 21st show in 2009. Georgia golfer Bubba Watson became the first celebrity picker to go undefeated on the September 28th show in 2013. Oklahoma State & current NBA player Marcus Smart became the first ever student athlete guest picker on the November 23rd show in 2013. The Oregon Duck became the first school mascot to be the guest picker on the September 6th show in 2014. Guests have included military veterans, Make-A-Wish Foundation kids, athletes, school mascots, professional sports owners, CEO's, singers, actors & celebrity personalities.
Appearances through December 6, 2019
CelebrityAppearancesRecordWin PctLast Appearance
Charles Barkley624–12December 14, 2019
Kenny Chesney315–11September 27, 2014
Eric Church321–13September 14, 2019
Keegan-Michael Key324–13September 29, 2018
Roger Staubach34–3December 12, 2015
The Chainsmokers213–10October 13, 2018
Mark Cuban210–8September 5, 2011
Nathan Followill27–12October 27, 2012
Eddie George215–7November 23, 2019
Bo Jackson211–2August 31, 2019
Lane Kiffin28–3January 2, 2012
Brad Paisley212–6September 5, 2015
Willie Robertson27–12October 25, 2014
Steve Spurrier210–11September 24, 2016
Eric Stonestreet27–11August 31, 2013
Laila Ali15–4September 17, 2016
Lance Armstrong18–2September 19, 2009
Stone Cold Steve Austin15–4August 30, 2014
Bob Baffert17–3September 26, 2015
Amanda Beard14–6November 21, 2009
Matt Birk15–5November 22, 2014
Dirks Bentley14–4October 24, 2015
Drew Bledsoe111–3October 10, 2018
Big Boi18–1September 6, 2010
Brian Bosworth15–6September 11, 2010
Bobby Bowden17–2September 11, 2010
Drew Brees15–6October 10, 2009
Alex Bregman17–6November 3, 2018
Tedy Bruschi16–3October 3, 2009
Luke Bryan19–3September 1, 2018
Ty Burrell12–3November 6, 2010
Frank Caliendo18–2October 29, 2016
Luther Campbell15–4December 2, 2017
Jim Cantore15–3October 3, 2015
Ricky Carmichael12–5September 22, 2012
Ki-Jana Carter18–1October 10, 2017
Joey Chesnut15–1December 7, 2013
Dallas Clark12–5December 5, 2015
Mateen Cleaves10–1October 22, 2011
Alice Cooper18–3November 8, 2014
Eric Decker16–5November 30, 2019
Mike Ditka18–2November 20, 2010
Landon Donovan15–5November 24, 2012
The Oregon Duck15–3September 6, 2014
Jeff Dunham14–4November 14, 2015
Dale Earnhardt Jr.15–5September 10, 2016
Ashton Eaton14–5October 26, 2013
Lavell Edwards17–3October 24, 2009
Chris Fallica14–5November 16, 2013
Jerry Ferrara15–4October 1, 2011
Will Ferrell15–5October 30, 2010
Ric Flair16–4October 15, 2016
Rickie Fowler17–4November 28, 2015
Phillip Fulmer15–6November 24, 2016
Chip Gaines14–8November 16, 2019
Joanna Gaines14–8November 16, 2019
John Goodman112–1October 12, 2019
Owen Gray16–5September 8, 2018
Ken Griffey Jr.16–3October 18, 2014
Archie Griffin14–6November 21, 2015
Blake Griffin19–1October 8, 2011
Draymond Green15–3September 12, 2015
Jeff Van Gundy10–1September 8, 2012
Phil Hansen14–5September 21, 2013
Mark Harmon13–3September 7, 2013
Bryce Harper111–2November 24, 2018
Santonio Holmes15–4September 12, 2009
Evander Holyfield18–6October 27, 2018
Bob Huggins17–3September 3, 2017
Sam Hunt18–1September 24, 2011
Michael Irvin11–3August 24, 2019
LeBron James15–5October 25, 2008
Jeezy17–6September 21, 2019
Greg Jennings18–2November 19, 2016
Brock Jensen16–4September 13, 2014
Magic Johnson13–3January 1, 2014
Chipper Jones15–4September 5, 2009
Jerry Jones16–1September 1, 2012
Lolo Jones16–4November 3, 2012
Toby Keith17–6October 6, 2018
Bobby Knight12–0November 1, 2008
Phil Knight17–3October 31, 2009
Jerry "The King" Lawler19–3November 2, 2019
Carl Lewis15–5November 19, 2011
Ryan Lochte18–2October 20, 2011
Lyle Lovett15–3September 14, 2013
Verne Lundquist13–5October 22, 2016
Marcus Luttrell15–4November 15, 2014
Tim Matheson111–5September 22, 2018
Pat McAfee17–7October 26, 2019
Matthew McConaughey19–2September 7, 2019
Cadet Cpt. Hugh McConnell13–2December 10, 2016
Tim McGraw17–1October 7, 2017
Joel McHale17–4November 12, 2016
Warren Moon15–4October 12, 2013
Brent Musburger14–6October 5, 2013
Bill Murray14–5October 19, 2013
Joe Namath17–2November 29, 2014
Craig T. Nelson17–2November 18, 2017
Jack Nicklaus15–5October 28, 2017
Chris O’Donnell110–3November 10, 2018
Jake Olson16–4January 1, 2010
Jake Owen19–1November 2, 2013
Orlando Pace17–3November 26, 2016
Cpt. Stephen Phillips13–2December 10, 2016
Rick Pitino16–5September 16, 2017
Maury Povich19–4November 11, 2018
Jonathan Papelbon15–4October 11, 2014
Jake Peavy16–3November 9, 2013
Katy Perry17–2October 4, 2014
Phillie Phanatic14–3October 31, 2015
Jim Plunkett17–3November 12, 2011
Derek Poundstone16–4November 13, 2010
Quavo16–5December 1, 2018
Gabrielle Reece16–4September 20, 2014
Roman Reigns16–4September 15, 2018
Rob Riggle13–5December 9, 2017
Jase Robertson19–0October 25, 2014
Rick Ross15–4November 7, 2015
Darius Rucker17–3October 6, 2012
Matt Ryan16–4December 1, 2012
Braden Pape16–5November 17, 2012
Ryan Riess14–2December 7, 2013
Alex Rodriguez112–0November 11, 2017
Aaron Rodgers18–2September 3, 2016
Lt. Curtis Sharp16–6November 10, 2012
Mike Singletary14–3December 6, 2014
Marcus Smart15–6November 23, 2013
Bruce Smith17–3September 30, 2017
Emmitt Smith110–2October 5, 2019
Hope Solo14–5October 12, 2013
Lara Spencer19–4October 19, 2019
John Stockton16–1October 10, 2015
Picabo Street16–3September 25, 2010
Nick Swisher18–1November 1, 2008
Lt. Colonel Scott “Spike” Thomas17–3November 28, 2009
Justin Thomas15–7November 9, 2019
Thurman Thomas18–3November 4, 2017
Gabrielle Union14–5September 28, 2019
Vince Vaughn15–5October 13, 2012
Dwyane Wade14–5September 28, 2019
Bubba Watson110–0September 28, 2013
Lil Wayne17–3November 5, 2016
Brian Wilson14–5November 5, 2011
Gene Wojciechowski14–6October 14, 2017

Spin-offs