- College football’s premier pregame makes its second visit of the season to Tennessee ahead of the No. 6 Vols’ matchup with No. 3 Alabama
- College GameDay makes its 11th trip to Knoxville and 429th road show
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot returns to Knoxville, Tenn., for the show’s second visit to Rocky Top in four weeks. The show will be live from Ayres Hall Lawn at the University of Tennessee from 9 a.m. – noon ET (ESPN and ESPNU, ESPN App) on Saturday before the No. 6 Vols host longtime SEC rival No. 3 Alabama.
Rece Davis – an Alabama alum – leads the show in his eighth season as host and is joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Pat McAfee and David Pollack. Reporters Jen Lada, Gene Wojciechowski – a Tennessee alum, and newcomer Jess Sims, along with research producer Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica and college football insider Pete Thamel, round out the GameDay crew for the season.
In addition to GameDay, SEC Network’s SEC Nation and Marty & McGee pregame shows are also originating from Knoxville on Saturday morning (from a set outside Thompson-Boling Arena). This is just the fourth time during the regular season that both GameDay and SEC Nation are originating from the same game site (2018: Florida vs. Georgia in Jacksonville; 2019: LSU at Alabama; 2021: Kentucky at Georgia; 2022: Alabama at Tennessee).
Scheduled Features & Highlights
- Meechie – Before he was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2020, Demetrius `Meechie’ Walker was a highly recruited defensive end who had attracted the close attention of his home-state dream team – the University of Michigan. Now, as he fights for his life, that Michigan team has embraced Meechie as one of its own. (Gene Wojciechowski)
- Will Anderson – Marty Smith sits down with the Alabama defensive star to talk leadership style, handling the weight of expectations, the feeling of scoring his first touchdown and the sweet and acquired taste of victory cigars after wins over Tennessee.
- The Dakota Marker – FCS No. 1 North Dakota State and FCS No. 3 South Dakota State will play this weekend for the top spot in their division, but this game represents much more than that to those involved. To understand the real stakes, you have to go back 130 years to the nine men who spiked 720 markers into the ground separating the Dakota Territory into North and South. That’s the line the Bison and Jackrabbits cross each fall, separated by only 190 miles and connected by a Dakota DNA as unique as the trophy they fight for. (Ryan McGee)
With Alabama and Tennessee set to play their traditional ‘third Saturday in October’ rivalry game, both head coaches will join GameDay on Saturday – Nick Saban will join live while Josh Heupel will be part of a film breakdown with the crew on set.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin will do a live talk-back from the field in Oxford, Miss., for this week’s ‘Live WIRED’ ahead of the No. 9 Rebels’ noon game on ESPN against Auburn. Additional live pregame coverage and interviews from Ann Arbor, Mich., will preview No. 10 Penn State at No. 5 Michigan. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers will also be interviewed in advance of No. 18 Syracuse’s top-20 matchup with No. 15 NC State (3:30 p.m., ACC Network).
GameDay will welcome Tennessee Vols legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the Week 7 guest picker. Manning went 3-1 in his college career against Alabama, becoming the first quarterback in program history to win three-straight against the Crimson Tide. Manning and brother Eli now host the MNF with Peyton & Eli alternate presentation of Monday Night Football produced by his Omaha Productions in collaboration with ESPN.
Additional guests will be announced ahead of Saturday’s show on ESPN PR’s Twitter and College GameDay’s Twitter.
Fast Facts with ‘The Bear’
- This is GameDay’s 11th visit to Knoxville and the first time for a game other than Florida-Tennessee since 2004 when the Vols hosted Auburn
- This is the 15th time Alabama has been involved in a true road game with GameDay The Tide are 9-5 in road games, including a one-point win at Texas earlier this season
- This is the 54th time GameDay has originated from the site of an Alabama game, matching Ohio State for the schools with the most GameDay appearances
- Saturday marks the 17th anniversary of the “Bush Push” Game, where GameDay was present for USC’s 34-31 comeback win over Notre Dame
College GameDay is off to its best six-week start since 2010, and the premier pregame show is coming off its most-viewed episode of the season. The Week 6 visit to Lawrence, Kansas was the best pre-November show since 2010 and the sixth-best episode since the show expanded to three hours in 2013 with a 2.3 million viewers – a 22% increase over 2021’s Week 6 show. GameDay’s final hour attracted 2.98 million viewers and peaked at 3.5 million viewers
ESPN’s Expanded Digital Coverage
ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay Live, will be on-site in Knoxville with co-hosts Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr. The show will be live from Ayres Hall Lawn on Oct. 15 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The show is available across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
Additional details throughout the week can be found HERE.
For onsite information, please visit College GameDay’s Hub HERE.
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Media Contact:
Julie McKay, ESPN Communications – Julie.McKay@espn.com, @McKay_Julie
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