College GameDay
2025 logo
Presented by	Rece Davis
Starring	Kirk Herbstreit Desmond Howard Pat McAfee Nick Saban Jen Lada Jess Sims Pete Thamel Steve "Stanford Steve" Coughlin Katie Feeney
Opening theme	"Comin' to Your City" byBig & Rich (performed byDarius Rucker,Lainey Wilson, andThe Cadillac Three)
Country of origin	United States
Production
Production locations	Bristol, Connecticut (1987–2002) On location (1993–present)
Running time	180 minutes
Original release
Network	ESPN
Release	September 5, 1987 (1987-09-05) – present
Related
College Football on ESPN

College GameDay (branded asESPN College GameDay built byThe Home Depot for sponsorship reasons) is apre-game show broadcast byESPN as part of the network'scoverage ofcollege football, broadcast on Saturday mornings during the college football season. 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.

The show takes on a festivetailgate 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'scheerleaders andmascots often join in the celebration. Crowds atGameDay 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 largeWashington 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 320 consecutiveGameDay broadcasts since 2003.^[1][2][3]

The tailgate party theme also includes food brought onto the set cooked by a local business and the hosts sample the food prior to a commercial break, but the food is taken away by the time the program resumes.

The show's current main intro and theme music is performed bycountry music groupThe Cadillac Three featuring country singersDarius Rucker andLainey Wilson, who perform the 2005crossover hit "Comin' to Your City" byBig & Rich, which features revised lyrics which mention several top college teams. Big & Rich had performed the song, which featured a guest appearance byCowboy Troy until 2022. Rap artistTravie McCoy (ofGym Class Heroes) appeared in the intro from the2014 season until the2017 season alongsideLzzy Hale, lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock groupHalestorm. The2018 through2022 season featured rock artistZZ Ward, replacing Hale. Additional music that has been used for the show include "Boom" by the rock groupP.O.D. andGod Bless Saturday byKid Rock. The show also uses various other songs/music either side of commercial breaks, many of which appear at the same point of each program.

The show is known for its prediction segment that appears at the end of each broadcast. The predictions use the standard scoring system and do not use the spread in determining the pick. Typically there are six predictors:Lee Corso (who retired shortly after the start of the 2025 season),^[4]Kirk Herbstreit,Desmond Howard,Nick Saban,Pat McAfee, and an invited guest, usually a celebrity, prominent athlete, or radio personality associated with the host school for that week. From 1987 until his retirement in 2025, the show famously concluded 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. His first headgear pick occurred on October 5, 1996, when he correctly picked theOhio State Buckeyes over thePenn State Nittany Lions. In 2018, Corso made his first NFL headgear pick when, as a guest onSunday NFL Countdown, he correctly picked theNew Orleans Saints to win their Week 9 game at home against theLos Angeles Rams.^[5] Corso made his 400th headgear pick on September 16, 2023, for theColorado/Colorado Staterivalry game, he put on the headgear for Colorado. Corso made his 431st and final headgear pick on August 30, 2025, correctly pickingOhio State to defeat theTexas Longhorns. Corso compiled an all-time record of 287–144 in his headgear picks.

As of January 1, 2025,Ohio State–Penn State andAlabama–LSU are the most featured matchups, appearing thirteen times onCollege Gameday.Alabama–Georgia has been featured eleven times.Florida–Tennessee,Michigan–Ohio State andArmy–Navy have been featured nine times.Alabama–Auburn,Florida–Florida State,Florida State–Miami, andOklahoma–Texas currently sit at eight appearances.Ohio State has the most hosts, appearances, and wins;Alabama is second in all three categories.^[6]

Tim Brando was the original host, withLee Corso andBeano Cook as commentators.Karie Ross soon became the first woman to join the broadcast.^[7] The show underwent a radical transformation beginning in 1993, and began incorporating live broadcasts. The longest-tenured original cast member was Lee Corso,^[8] whose appearances were pre-scripted after he suffered a stroke in 2009.^[9]Rece Davis serves as host andKirk Herbstreit is the longest-tenured current cast member, having joined the show in 1996.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 theGameDay crew as a co-host and contributor in 2010, replaced in 2012 bySamantha Ponder (and in 2017 byMaria Taylor after Ponder left to become host ofSunday NFL Countdown that same year). In 2015, Rece Davis (also host of the college basketball version ofGameDay) replacedChris Fowler as host of the show. In 2022,Pat McAfee joined, having previously been an analyst, andNick Saban was added to the show in 2024. Corso retired fromGameDay after the August 30, 2025 broadcast.^[4] In 2010, the program started airing from 10:00am to 11:00am, with the opening hour broadcast onESPNU until the present.

In 2023, ESPN laid off a large number of on-air staff, includingCollege GameDay hosts Gene Wojciechowski and David Pollack.^[10][11]

• Rece Davis: (Host, 2015–present)
• Kirk Herbstreit: (Analyst, 1996–present)
• Desmond Howard: (Analyst, 2005–present)
• Pat McAfee: (Contributor, 2019–2020; Analyst, 2022–present)
• Nick Saban: (Analyst, 2024–present)^[12]
• Jen Lada: (Reporter, 2016–present)
• Jess Sims: (Reporter, 2022–present)
• Pete Thamel: (Insider, 2022–present)
• Steve "Stanford Steve" Coughlin: (Sports Betting Analyst, 2023–present)^[13]
• Katie Feeney: (Contributor, 2025–present)^[14]

• Trev Alberts: (In-Studio Analyst, 2002–2005)
• Erin Andrews: (Reporter/Contributor, 2010–2011)^[15]
• Tim Brando: (Host, 1987–1988)^[16]
• Bob Carpenter: (Host, 1989)^[16]
• Beano Cook: (Analyst, 1987–1990)^[16]
• Lee Corso: (Analyst, 1987–2025)^[16][4]
• Chris "Bear" Fallica: (Researcher/Contributor, 1996–2022)
• Chris Fowler: (Host, 1990–2014)
• Robert Griffin III: (Contributor, 2021–2022)
• Craig James: (Analyst, 1990–1995)
• Rocket Ismail: (Contributor, 2003–2004)
• Nick Lachey: (Contributor, 2005)
• Norm Hitzges: (Contributor, 1992–1995)
• David Pollack: (Analyst/Contributor, 2011–2022)
• Samantha Ponder: (Reporter/Contributor, 2012–2016)
• Tom Rinaldi: (Contributor, 2011–2020)
• Maria Taylor: (Reporter/Contributor, 2017–2020)
• Gene Wojciechowski: (Contributor, 1992–2022)

GameDay started on ESPN in 1987 and originally broadcast from a studio in Connecticut.

In1993,GameDay took the show "on the road" for the first time, going toSouth Bend, Indiana for the match-up between #2Notre Dame and #1FSU on November 13.^[17] (Matchups between the top two teams were rare prior to the BCS). It broadcast from the Sports Heritage Hall at the Notre Dame Joyce Center. The broadcast was such a success that they did nearly half their shows in 1994 on the road and in 1995 abandoned the studio altogether.

The format also changed from broadcasting from an indoor studio on site to live from outside a stadium hosting a big game most Saturdays. The selected stadium isusually hosting one of the biggest matchups of the day, regardless of whether the game airs on an ESPN network.

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 hostingGameDay, 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 theGameDay regulars (such asBob Knight whenGameDay aired fromTexas Tech in 2008,NASCAR starDale Earnhardt Jr. whenGameDay aired fromBristol Motor Speedway (a NASCAR track) in2016 andVerne Lundquist in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, since it was his final season calling college football games onCBS). Prior to 2009, this was not done on a regular basis. Herbstreit, who in 2006 became a gameanalyst forABC'sSaturday Night Football, is not allowed to make a pick for the game at which he is assigned due to parent companyDisney'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. In August 2019, College Gameday aired from parent company Disney'sMagic Kingdom Park inDisney World ahead of the University of Florida-Miami game played in Orlando.

College GameDay was also a source for many arguments regarding the purportedeast coast bias: From 1993 until 2004,GameDay had only been to two regular season games on the entire West Coast (1998 atUCLA and 2000 atOregon). 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.^[18]

With the addition of theSaturday Night Football game on ABC in 2006,GameDay has increasingly aired from that game. This could be done for many reasons including the factKirk Herbstreit is on both programs, thus making it easier for him. Another reason could be to give theSaturday Night Football game added exposure.

Beginning with the show's 21st season (2007),College GameDay began broadcasting in high-definition onESPN HD. Also the same season,California became the first (and as of 2024, only) team to decline to hostCollege GameDay,^[19] as the school believedGameDay should go toVirginia Tech after theVirginia Tech shooting earlier in the year. 17 years later, California would finally make its debut hostingCollege GameDay for a 2024 matchup againstMiami.

College GameDay expanded to 3 hours, with the first hour being televised onESPNU, 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—firstErin Andrews in 2010 and 2011, and thenSamantha Ponder (then known by her maiden name, Samantha Steele) after Andrews left ESPN forFox 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 whichCollege GameDay originated, if it aired on one of the ESPN family of networks (i.e. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ABC).^[20]

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 (2015), Rece Davis (who is also the host of the college basketball version) replaced Chris Fowler as the football version's new host. Fowler retained his play-by-play duties on ABC'sSaturday Night Football.

In March 2018, ESPN announced that it would broadcast a special edition ofCollege GameDay fromArlington, Texas, as a pre-show for its coverage of day 1 of the2018 NFL draft. The broadcast accompanied a secondary telecast of the draft onESPN2, which was hosted by theCollege GameDay panelists (barring Kirk Herbstreit, as he was involved in ESPN's main broadcast to replace the outgoingJon Gruden).^[21][22]

In the2020 season,College GameDay underwent modifications due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The program was broadcast without an audience, and with a modified desk to comply withsocial distancing rules. Corso did not travel with the remainder of theCollege GameDay panel due to health concerns, and instead made remote appearances from his home inOrlando, as well as in filmedsketches with appearances by team mascots.^{[23][24][25][26]}

By 2023, the crowds of students returned, and exceeded their pre-pandemic numbers.James Madison University holds the record for the largestGameDay crowd in its 30-year history.^[27]

On August 30, 2025, Corso retired fromCollege GameDay, with the show broadcasting fromOhio State for its home opener againstTexas. Corso conducted his headgear pick segment for the final time on the field ofOhio Stadium. With the game itself being televised byFox, its competing pre-game showBig Noon Kickoff also carried the segment in tribute to Corso, as presented by the team's media department on Ohio Stadium'sJumbotron. The segment was retired afterward; the culmination of the show was replaced byPat McAfee's selection, where he cuts awrestling-stylepromo against the visiting team. The promo had been performed by McAfee in prior editions since joining the program, particularly when Corso was absent.^{[28][29][30][31]}

As of 2018,College GameDay has collected eightSports Emmy Awards forOutstanding Studio Show, tied withTNT'sInside 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 fraudulently receivedSports Emmy Awards statuettes from theNational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).

Beginning in at least 2010 and possibly going back as far as 1997, ESPN had listed fake names in the credit list for itsCollege GameDay program. These names were similar to the names of actual ESPN employees who were ineligible to receive the awards—for example, "Lee Clark" and "Kirk Henry" were listed as "associate producers" on the show, which hasLee Corso andKirk Herbstreit as on-air personalities. After receiving the statuettes, ESPN would then have them re-engraved with the actual names of the individuals and presented to them.

TheSports Emmy Awards are awards given in recognition of artistic and technical merit insports television.^[33] They are administered by theNational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), which also administersEmmy Awards in other categories of television broadcasting.^[32]ESPN, an American broadcast sports network, has been well-represented in the awards, with the channel's programming having won a total of 246 awards as of 2024.^[34]

On January 11, 2024,The Athletic—thesports journalism department ofThe New York Times^[35]—became the first news source to report on a scandal concerning ESPN fabricating information in order to win Emmy awards that they would have otherwise been ineligible for.^[36][37] Per Katie Strang ofThe Athletic, in 2022, NATAS revamped their process for verifying the credit lists for shows nominated for Sports Emmy Awards.^[32] The academy subsequently reached out to ESPN to verify certain names that had been listed in the credits of shows aired by the network.^[32] ESPN informed the academy that some names were fake, and both organizations proceeded to launch investigations into the matter.^[32]

The scandal primarily concernedCollege GameDay, a popular program on ESPN that had won eight awards forOutstanding Studio Show, Weekly from 2008 to 2018.^[32][38][39] According to Strang, during that time period, fake names were included in the credit list for the show under the title of "associate producers".^[32] These names were similar to and bore the same initials as the names of several of the show's on-air personalities, who were ineligible for receiving an award won by the show by the academy's "double-dipping" rules.^[32] For example, the show's credit list for several seasons had "Lee Clark", "Chris Fulton", "Kirk Henry", and "Tim Richard" listed as executive producers, while the show's on-air personalities includedLee Corso,Chris Fowler,Kirk Herbstreit, andTom Rinaldi.^[32][40] According to Strang, awards won by these fictitious people were received by ESPN, who would then have the statuettes re-engraved with the names of the actual people, who would then receive the awards.^[32][37]

There is no evidence that the on-air personalities were aware that the awards had been obtained in this manner.^[36][39] In a May 2024 interview onThe Pat McAfee Show, Herbstreit toldPat McAfee,^[41]

I was naive to the whole thing. I thought obviously the people on the set would get an Emmy. So, all these years I didn't know that, I didn't know what was going on. I was not privy to that information. I just thought, 'Hey it finally came. Where's it been?' I stuck it on the mantle and we kind of move on.

While ESPN did not publicly disclose the parties responsible for the scandal, several employees, including vice presidents Lee Fitting and Craig Lazarus, were deemed ineligible to participate in future Emmys events.^[32][42][43] Additionally, NATAS imposed a one-year eligibility ban on the senior leadership ofCollege GameDay.^[39][43] Several employees who had been involved received disciplinary action from ESPN.^[44][45] On January 12, 2024, ESPN said that the scandal went back to at least 2010 and may have started as early as 1997,^[32][46] while multiple sources reported that the scandal went back to at least 2007.^[47][35]

Following the discovery of the scandal, NATAS requested that ESPN return several awards that had been obtained in this manner.^[32]Shelley Smith, who had been an on-air reporter for ESPN since 1997, was asked to return two statuettes,^[32] while Herbstreit said that eight of the 13 statuettes he owned were returned.^[41] In August of that year, Fitting was fired by ESPN after 25 years of employment at the company.^[32] Sports journalistAndrew Marchand later reported that the scandal had been "a factor" in Fitting's firing.^[40] By January 2024, ESPN had returned 37 improperly-won statuettes to the academy.^[32][38][48] PerSports Illustrated, these 37 awards were all received byCollege GameDay.^[42]

In a statement released on January 12, 2024, ESPN said, "Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names" and that "This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team".^[37] ESPN also stated that they had worked with NATAS to overhaul their submissions process to avoid something similar from happening in the future.^[44] NATAS stated that, after alerting ESPN to the scandal, "the network took steps to take responsibility for the actions of its personnel, to investigate thoroughly, and to course correct".^[36] Multiple individuals who had to return their Emmy statuettes expressed disappointment in the situation. Smith said that the actions of the producers in fraudulently gaining the statuettes for her and her colleagues had been "really crummy".^[32] Speaking a few days after the story became public,Desmond Howard—aCollege GameDay host who also received fraudulent statuettes—expressed frustration over the fact that Corso had to return his statuettes, saying, "They're taking that old man's Emmy's? If they're going to take his, you can have all of mine. I'll break these damn things. ... I said 'How could y'all even let this happen to him?' I was fucked up over that. I'll break all of them. Take 'em in pieces. That's how much they mean to me."^[49]

Appearances through November 1, 2025.^[50]

Appearances through September 13, 2025

College GameDay matchups with at least 5 games played.

Lee Corso made his first headgear pick on October 5, 1996, when he correctly picked the Ohio State Buckeyes over the Penn State Nittany Lions. His final headgear pick came on August 30, 2025, where he also correctly picked the Ohio State Buckeyes to defeat the Texas Longhorns. Ohio State has the most selections with 46 picks and also has the most wins with 32. USC holds the highest win percentage, winning all 17 games in which they were picked by Corso.

Source:^[52][53]

Auburn andNBA basketball playerCharles Barkley was the first celebrity guest picker on the October 2, 2004, show and has made the most show appearances with six, with his most recent appearance on December 14, 2019. Olympian andArizona swimmerAmanda Beard was the first female celebrity guest picker on November 21, 2009.Georgia golferBubba Watson became the first celebrity picker to pick all games correctly on September 28, 2013.Oklahoma State and NBA playerMarcus Smart became the first ever student athlete guest picker on November 23, 2013.The Oregon Duck became the first school mascot to be the guest picker on September 6, 2014. Guests have included athletes, coaches, military veterans,Make-A-Wish Foundation kids, school mascots, professional sports owners, CEOs, singers, actors and celebrity personalities.

Appearances through October 25, 2025:

In the UK,College GameDay was shown in full duringBT Sport's decade on air (2013–2023), unless live sport was being aired on all of its channels. In July 2023, BT Sport was relaunched asTNT Sports following the sale of BT Sport toWarner Bros. Discovery EMEA.^[54] This saw the cessation of ESPN programming, andCollege Gameday stopped being shown in the UK.^{[55][unreliable source?]} The program returned to UK screens on 18 November 2023 following an agreement betweenSky Sports and ESPN which sees Sky Sports broadcastingCollege Gameday and three College Football games each week for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.^[56]

From 2025, DAZN has secured a deal with ESPN which includes the broadcasting ofCollege Gameday in the UK, Continental Europe, and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regions, where there is no conflict.^[57]

College Gameday is broadcast fully in Australia and New Zealand from 11pm-2am AEST on Sunday mornings, before carrying at least 3 college football games across theESPN Australia networks throughFoxtel orFetch TV and streaming serviceKayo Sports on Sunday mornings.

• College GameDay (basketball) (2005–present)
• ESPN Radio College GameDay (2000–present)
• SEC Nation (2014–present)
• Big Noon Kickoff (2019–present)

Further reading

• Curtis, Bryan (December 1, 2023).""Not So Fast": The Oral History of ESPN's 'College GameDay'".The Ringer. RetrievedSeptember 18, 2024.
• Mwachiro, Mark (January 11, 2025)."ESPN Gets Caught Up in Sports Emmy Scandal".Adweek.Archived from the original on February 23, 2025. RetrievedJuly 18, 2025.
• Sykes, Mike D. II (January 11, 2024)."The alleged ESPN Emmy fraud, explained: Everything to know about the ridiculously silly and reckless scandal". For the Win.USA Today.Gannett.ISSN 0734-7456.OCLC 8799626.Archived from the original on July 21, 2025. RetrievedJuly 21, 2025.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCollege GameDay (football).

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