College GameDay (football TV program)

The idea began in 2003 on WSU online fan forums and has resulted in the flag, nicknamed "Ol' Crimson," being present at 320 consecutive GameDay broadcasts since 2003.

The show's current main 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 (of Gym Class Heroes) 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.

Typically there are six predictors: Corso, Herbstreit, Howard, Saban, Pat McAfee, and an invited guest, usually a celebrity, prominent athlete, or radio personality associated with the host school for that week.

As of January 1, 2025, Ohio State–Penn State and Alabama–LSU are the most featured matchups, appearing thirteen times on College Gameday.

Today, the only original cast member remaining is Lee Corso,[7] whose appearances have been pre-scripted since suffering a stroke in 2009.

In 2023, ESPN laid off a large number of on-air staff, including College GameDay hosts Gene Wojciechowski and David Pollack.

In 1993, GameDay took the show "on the road" for the first time, going to South Bend, Indiana for the match-up between #2 Notre Dame and #1 FSU on November 13.

The format also changed from broadcasting from an indoor studio on site to live from outside a stadium hosting a big game most Saturdays.

Starting with the 2009 season, a celebrity guest picker gives picks for the day's key games alongside the GameDay regulars (such as Bob Knight when GameDay aired from Texas Tech in 2008, NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. when GameDay aired from Bristol Motor Speedway (a NASCAR track) in 2016 and Verne Lundquist in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, since it was his final season calling College Football games on CBS).

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 (07:00 AM PST) and an alleged lack of high quality matchups.

Beginning with the show's 21st season (2007), College GameDay began broadcasting in high-definition on ESPN HD.

17 years later, California would finally make their debut hosting College GameDay for a 2024 matchup against Miami.

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.

James Madison University holds the record for the largest GameDay crowd in its 30-year history:[25] 26,000 people jammed on The Quad on November 18, 2023.

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.

An incident happened in 2024 where ESPN admitted that for some of the Emmys it had won from 2010 to 2018, it had submitted some invented names of fictitious associate producers to receive statuettes, then quietly replaced or modified the inscriptions on the statuettes to match the show's real on-air personalities rather than the fake names.

Oklahoma State and NBA player Marcus Smart became the first ever student athlete guest picker on November 23, 2013.

[31] College Gameday is broadcast fully in Australia and New Zealand from 11am-2am AEST on Sunday mornings, before carrying at least 3 college football games across the ESPN Australia networks through Foxtel or Fetch TV and streaming service Kayo Sports on Sunday mornings.

The GameDay crew record a post-game segment for SportsCenter at Nebraska (vs USC) on September 15, 2007.
Fan-made signs and flags being held up behind the set help make up the atmosphere of GameDay , as seen here at UCF in November 2018.
At Virginia Tech in November 2005, Corso picks the University of Miami to upset Virginia Tech . Note the head of Sebastian the Ibis , the University of Miami 's mascot.
At Penn State in October 2017, several people were lined up for GameDay by 3 AM, 6 hours before the show began.
College Gameday at Michigan Stadium prior to a 2024 game.
Ohio State has appeared and hosted GameDay more than any other school with 66 and 25 times respectively.
Alabama has hosted GameDay on campus 19 times and has made a total of 60 appearances on GameDay, making them second in total appearances. The first three appearances were off-campus from Legion Field in Birmingham.
The Florida Gators have been featured on GameDay 42 times, which makes them third in most total appearances.
Air Force is one of only two "Group of Five" school to have hosted GameDay three times.
North Dakota State is the only FCS program to host GameDay twice.
A Washington State Cougars flag has flown at every GameDay broadcast since 2003, but GameDay did not visit Martin Stadium (pictured) until 2018.
With the completion of the 2014 season, the SEC became the first (and, until 2022, the only) conference to have all of its members host GameDay at least once (although Missouri has never hosted while an SEC member; they hosted as a member of the Big 12). The SEC has also hosted GameDay more than any other conference. [ 28 ]