ESPN Front Row: ESPN SVP Lee Fitting on College GameDay
- Wake Forest and NBA Star Chris Paul to Serve as Guest Picker
College GameDay Built by Home Depot is headed to Wake Forest University for its first road show of the season and first-time visit. The three-hour traveling pregame show (9 a.m. – noon ET) will be live from Truist Field in Winston-Salem, N.C., preceding the ACC matchup with the Demon Deacons taking on the defending ACC champion and No. 1-ranked Clemson Tigers. Wake Forest great and 10-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul will join the show virtually as the guest picker.
The 11-time Emmy Award-winning show is hosted by Rece Davis, who is joined on-site by Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard (who recently signed a new deal with ESPN), David Pollack and Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, with Lee Corso from his home in Orlando. Additional contributors throughout the season include Jen Lada (who also recently signed a new deal), Pat McAfee, Tom Rinaldi, Maria Taylor and Gene Wojciechowski.
College GameDay will air on ESPN and ESPNU as it does each Saturday throughout the season.
The show precedes a full slate of action across ESPN networks, beginning at noon. Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge, Todd McShay and Allison Williams will be on call as the Demon Deacons faces the Tigers, with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m., as part of ABC Saturday Night Football.
Show Highlights
- USC/Alabama – 50 Years Later: Fifty years ago, second-string fullback Sam Cunningham from USC, playing in his first collegiate game, traveled to Birmingham and ran all over Alabama. The convincing USC win helped push Alabama toward integrating its all-white football team. Reporter: Jeremy Schaap
- The Normal, For Now: From preparations to the play on the field, reporter Jen Lada takes a look at how players and coaches are approaching and adjusting to college football in this COVID era.
- Trevor Talks: Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence sits down with Tom Rinaldi to talk the eventful offseason, his high and low points of 2020, and why he is determined to play this season.
- Coaches Roundtable: With their seasons postponed, head coaches James Franklin (Penn State), David Shaw (Stanford) and Kyle Whittingham (Utah) sit down for a live “roundtable” discussion
- Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and Alabama head coach Nick Saban to join the show live
- Maria Taylor meets with Florida State quarterback James Blackman
- Gene Wojchiechowski joins live from Notre Dame for significant game as the Fighting Irish kicks off first game as part of ACC this season, plus more on historical significance of Notre Dame joining conference
Corso Facts
- Corso has picked Clemson ten times and is 8-2 with those headgear picks, including seven straight wins
- He has picked against Clemson 12 times and is 5-7 with those 12 picks
- Corso picked against the Tigers in both the CFP Semifinal vs Ohio State and CFP Championship vs. LSU
Stats from ‘The Bear’
- This is the fourth first-time site GameDay has attended in its last 12 shows
- This is the 16th time since the start of the 2015 season that Clemson has played at the site of College GameDay – the most appearances for any team
- Clemson hasn’t lost a regular season game with GameDay in attendance since the 2013 Florida State game in Clemson.
- There are now only eight Power Five schools from which the show has not originated (Cal, Duke, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia)
ESPN Celebrates Teachers with Extra Yard for Teachers Week and the BIG DAY
ESPN is teaming up with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation to celebrate teachers with Extra Yard for Teachers (EYFT) Week, a nationwide celebration of teachers. Across ESPN networks, on-air personalities will be surprising teachers with a total of $20,000 in gift cards for classroom resources. College GameDay Built by the Home Depot will kick off the celebration on Saturday’s show.
In addition, the CFP Foundation is going big to support teachers with the BIG DAY on Monday, Sept. 14. The BIG DAY, the largest single-day effort of community impact ever undertaken by the extended college football family, is a national day of supporting and celebrating teachers, by saying “thank you” to amazing educators dedicated to helping our kids learn. Fans can join the conversation by celebrating and thanking teachers using #BigDayForTeachers and #ExtraYardWeek. For more information about the CFP Foundation, visit cfp-foundation.org.
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