- College football’s premier pregame show to preview just the second meeting between the Wolverines and Sooners (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
- Special on-site guests: OU basketball legend Trae Young is Week 2’s guest picker; Sooners head coach Brent Venables to join CGD live on set
For onsite information, please visit College GameDay’s Hub HERE.
Host Rece Davis is at the helm for his 11th season, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. College football insider Pete Thamel, college football betting analyst ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the GameDay cast.
College GameDay kicked off the 2025 season at Ohio State for a Week 1 show that scored 4.0 million viewers during the three-hour telecast – the most-watched episode of all time and 1.3 million more than the second most-watched regular season episode. The three-hour window (9 a.m. to noon ET) finished 198% over the competition, and the final hour of the show set a record for GameDay, averaging 4.9 million viewers from 11 a.m. to noon, with the final hour eclipsing the competition by 128% head-to-head. Legendary analyst Lee Corso’s final headgear pick, which spanned the final five minutes of the show, reached 10 million viewers across all simulcasts (ESPN/ESPNU/SEC Network/ACC Network/FOX). More details on the historic start to the season here.
Show Highlights & Guests
- Oklahoma’s reigning national championship women’s gymnastics team joins Jess Sims in an all-access look at what it takes for a program to be seven-time NCAA Champions.
- All Access – CGD shares exclusive all-access with Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell wired for sound as their prep their teams ahead of the rivalry game.
- Coach’s Film Room –Nick Saban, the seven-time National Champion head coach, takes us inside his film room to break down Miami, Ohio State and LSU’s Week 1 wins and the old-school running attacks and physical dominance they have to thank.
- Guest picker – Four-time NBA All-Star and First Team All-American for the Sooners, Trae Young comes back to campus this weekend to appear as College GameDay’s Week 2 guest picker.
- Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest – Back for its third season, the fan-favorite Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest will offer an exclusive contest during the live show. Fans who arrive early will have a chance to be chosen from the ‘pit’ onsite with the opportunity to attempt a 33-yard field goal. McAfee has given out more than $2,000,000 of his own money in prizes and charity donations across his time on the show. Full details, including official rules, can be found here.
- This will be Oklahoma’s 10th time hosting GameDay in school history and 43rd overall appearance on the show – the third most by any school in the history of College GameDay. The Sooners have one 6-3 in their previous nine games when they’ve hosted the program.
Additional guests will be announced ahead of Saturday’s show on ESPN PR’s Twitter and College GameDay’s Twitter.
Features:
- Stanford’s Luck – In seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck was everything people expected he’d be—a franchise quarterback and a four-time Pro Bowler on his way to becoming one of the all-time greats. But in the NFL preseason of 2019 everything changed, and he unexpectedly walked away from football. Six years later, the sport he once loved and the school he never stopped loving have brought him back in a new role, with new challenges, when they needed him the most. Pete Thamel reports.
- A World Away – Michigan Wolverines linebacker Ernest Hausmann has spent a lifetime trying to find some place to belong. Born in Uganda as one of 23 siblings, Ernest’s parents contracted AIDS and their health forced them to put him up for adoption. At just five years old, Ernest left Uganda and traveled some 9,000 miles away to find his new home in Nebraska. What ensued were feelings of isolation, abandonment and bitterness towards his birth and adoptive families. For nearly two decades, Ernest was left wondering why he would be sent halfway around the world to live a life without a familiar face. Eventually, the chance to get answers to all his questions arrived when he was able to reconnect with his mother and travel back to Africa to meet her. Jen Lada reports.
- Year of the QB – College football is wide open in a way that it never has been before. The path to the playoff can be paved for dozens of teams across the country should they have the answer to one simple question. Can your quarterback win you games? Harry Lyles Jr. reports.
- Border Battle – Nothing says “college football” more than a game that hasn’t been played in nearly a decade and a half, that is one-part American history lesson and all parts 135-year-old gridiron grudge match. Kansas and Missouri are meeting for the first time since 2011. But the animosity between these two goes back to the American frontier and an actual war over an actual border. Ryan McGee reports.
ESPN’s Expansive Digital Coverage
Back for their fourth season together, Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr., return for ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay Presented by Dr Pepper. The trio heads to Norman with fun, fresh insights into the Week 2 slate joined by ‘Stanford Steve’ and will welcome former Sooners’ All-American LB Curtis Lofton to the show. In this week’s ‘Get More GameDay’ segment, Jess Sims will share her takeaways from her time on campus with the reigning national championship OU women’s gymnastics team.
The show is available across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App at 8:20 a.m. ET weekly.
All of ESPN. All in One Place. Now Available!
For the first time ever, ESPN offers its full suite of 12 networks and services directly to fans within an enhanced ESPN App that integrates game stats, ESPN BET information, ESPN Fantasy sports, commerce, multiview options, a synchronized two-screen experience, a vertical video feature called Verts and a personalized SportsCenter For You. Designed to give fans more choice, flexibility and access to all of ESPN, these new features and functionality are available to all fans who watch on the ESPN App on mobile and connected TV devices, whether they subscribe directly or through a traditional pay TV package. Bundling options available for fans include a special offer at launch for the ESPN DTC Unlimited plan with Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99/month for the first 12 months. For more visit the ESPN DTC Press Kit.
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