ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Travels to Georgia Ahead of the Top-Three Vols-Bulldogs Matchup

- GameDay’s eighth trip to Athens, Ga., and third visit to a Tennessee game this season
- Country singer and Georgia native Luke Bryan will join GameDay as guest picker

ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot heads to Athens, Ga., ahead of Week 10’s top-three matchup between No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Tennessee. The Bulldogs are hosting the show for the eighth time while GameDay makes its third visit in seven weeks to the site of a Vols game. The premier pregame show will be live from Myers Quad on campus and will air from 9 a.m. – noon ET (ESPN and ESPNU, ESPN App).
Rece Davis 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 – a College Football Hall of Famer and Georgia All-American. Reporters Jen Lada, Gene Wojciechowski 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 Athens on Saturday morning (from a set outside the Special Collections Library). This is just the fifth 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
- Weathering the Storm – Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan’s father Ted never missed a big moment in his son’s football career, supporting the Gophers through thick and thin and earning the “Team Dad” distinction from head coach PJ Fleck. Even after passing away from brain cancer last year, Ted is still finding ways to show up for the important moments in his son’s life. (Reporter: Jen Lada)
- Napa’s Finest – Napa Valley, Calif., is known around the world for the pristine beauty of its rolling hills and for the grapes and wine they produce. It’s now also known for producing the nation’s best tight end. During his recruitment amidst the COVID lockdown, videos of Brock Bowers running those hills captured the attention of Georgia coaches over 2,000 miles away. (Marty Smith, in collaboration with SEC Nation)
- Bryce Young Conversation – The reigning Heisman Trophy winner discusses how his relationship with Nick Saban has grown from just quarterback and coach, how he’s using his psychology major as a way to figure out the best ways to motivate and treat his teammates and how this team has changed since the loss at Tennessee. (Gene Wojciechowski)
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who led the Bulldogs to last season’s College Football Playoff National Championship, will join the show live in Athens ahead of the game against top-ranked Tennessee. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day will join the GameDay crew for this week’s edition of ‘Live WIRED’ ahead of the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes’ game against Northwestern.
Five-time entertainer of the year and Georgia native Luke Bryan will join GameDay as the Week 10 guest picker – his second appearance on the show after making the picks at Notre Dame in Week 1 of September 2018. Bryan and Peyton Manning will host the 56th annual CMA Awards, country music’s biggest night, live from Nashville on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Fast Facts from ‘The Bear’
- This is the second time GameDay has been on-site at a Georgia-Tennessee game, following 1998 when the Vols upset the Bulldogs
- Georgia will host GameDay for the third time since October 2021; the Bulldogs have won each of the last five games with the show in town, all against teams ranked 11th or higher
- Week 10 marks the third straight FBS show that GameDay has attended with a top-10 game
ESPN’s Expanded Digital Coverage
ESPN’s social and digital show, Countdown to GameDay Live will be live from Athens for the Week 10 edition. Co-hosted by Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr., the pre-pregame show will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 5. The show is available across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
Additional GameDay updates can be found via ESPN PR’s Twitter and College GameDay’s Twitter and details throughout the week can be found HERE and on College GameDay’s Hub HERE.
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