College GameDay Heads to Waco for Third Time Ahead of Big 12 Showdown on ABC Saturday Night Football

ESPN is making its way to Waco for this week’s edition of College GameDay Built by the Home Depot (9 a.m. – noon ET). The three-hour traveling pregame show will be live from McLane Stadium, preceding a Big 12 showdown between undefeated No. 13 Baylor and No. 10 Oklahoma on ABC Saturday Night Football. Baylor alumni, Fixer Upper stars and local business owners Chip and Joanna Gaines will serve as this week’s guest pickers, joining host Rece Davis, and analysts Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit for Saturday Selections – the show’s final segment.

The 11-time Emmy Award-winning show is hosted by Rece Davis, and joined by analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack, as well as contributors Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, Jen Lada, Tom Rinaldi, Maria Taylor and Gene Wojciechowski. Pat McAfee will join the crew this weekend, contributing to several segments throughout the show.

College GameDay will air on ESPN and ESPNU as it does each Saturday throughout the season. Countdown to GameDay Live sponsored by Coca-Cola and Samsung QLED, will also be live on-site on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App, featuring Jason Fitz, Mike Golic Jr., Pat McAfee, David Pollack, and a number of college football analysts and reporters.

The show precedes a full slate of action across ESPN networks, beginning at noon ET. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor will be on the call for No. 10 Oklahoma at No. 13 Baylor, with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

Show Highlights

• Now You CeeDee Now You Don’t – What’s the difference between a world-class magician and Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s Sooner Magic? As it turns out, not much. Reporter: Gene Wojciechowski
• Coach O Convo – Ed Orgeron’s tears were plain to see as his LSU Tigers celebrated their victory over Alabama. “It was 8 long years coming,” Orgeron said. But the path leading to that moment was much longer for Coach O, including low points and hard lessons along the way. He shares several—from mistakenly ignoring Pete Carroll’s coaching advice, to how one play call at Ole Miss changed his future. Reporter: Tom Rinaldi
• “I Was a College Football Meme” – In college football, you never know when it will be your time in the spotlight or when the world will suddenly know your name. Nowadays that goes for the fans as well – from the LSU Stare Girl to the Florida State book reader, you never know who will become the next viral image and newest member of college football’s meme team. Reporter: Maria Taylor
• Baylor head coach Matt Rhule will join the show live to discuss his team and Saturday’s matchup

Corso Facts

• Saturday will mark headgear pick no. 343 for Lee Corso
• Corso has picked Baylor once – incorrectly in the 2015 game versus Oklahoma
  • He has picked against Baylor twice – correctly picking Oklahoma State to beat Baylor in Stillwater in 2013, and incorrectly picking Kansas State to beat the Bears in Waco in 2014
• Corso has picked the underdog to win each of the last two weeks
  • He’s never picked the underdog to win with three straight headgear picks
• Corso has picked Oklahoma 17 times and is 10-7 when picking OU
  • He has lost each of the last four times he has picked OU to win
  • He has picked against Oklahoma 18 times and is 5-13 when picking against OU.
• Dating back to 2012, Corso is 1-8 in his last nine headgear picks involving Oklahoma (1-4 picking against, 0-4 picking OU)

Stats from ‘The Bear’

• This is road show 378 and will happen nearly 26 years to the day of the first road show (November 13, 1993)
• This is GameDay’s third trip to Waco (vs. Kansas State in 2014, vs. Oklahoma in 2015)
• Each of the last four games GameDay has attended have been decided by 7 points or fewer.
• Oklahoma is currently a 10-point favorite over Baylor. The only time a GameDay host has pulled the outright upset on its home field as a double-digit underdog was in 1997 (LSU +16.5 vs Florida)
  • The last time a double-digit underdog won outright at a GameDay site came in 2016 when Wisconsin won outright as a 12.5-point underdog at Lambeau Field versus LSU

-30-