- College football’s premier pregame returns for its first on-campus show of the season ahead of Notre Dame-Texas A&M
- GameDay makes its seventh visit to Texas A&M and Aggies’ 10th all-time appearance on the show
- Special guests on-site: Aggies head coach Mike Elko, CFP executive director Rich Clark, Aggies great Von Miller, Dylan Gossett performs and more
- Heisman Trophy winner & former A&M QB Johnny Manziel joins the show as the Week 1 guest picker
ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot arrives in Aggieland for its first on-campus show of the season, as the premier college football pregame program visits Texas A&M for the Week 1 edition. The Aggies will host the show for the first time since 2018 ahead of their matchup with Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC and ESPN+). College GameDay will be live from Aggie Park on Texas A&M’s campus from 9 a.m. – noon ET on ESPN & ESPNU.
For onsite information, please visit College GameDay’s Hub HERE.
Familiar Faces of GameDay
Host Rece Davis is at the helm for his 10th season, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban along with legendary GameDay analyst Lee Corso who makes his season debut. Herbstreit will then call the action from Kyle Field on ABC alongside Chris Fowler and Holly Rowe on ABC Saturday Night Football Presented by Capital One.
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 got off to a strong start this season with its first international show live from Dublin in Week 0. The show averaged 1.6 million viewers and peaked at 2.0 million in the final hour. The episode marked the most-watched Week 0 episode ever, up 41% over the previous most-watched Week 0 show (2022).
Corso’s Count
- Coach Corso returns this week to make his renowned headgear picks for the first time this season, delivering his 414th overall pick.
- In the nine appearances Texas A&M has had on GameDay, Corso has picked their headgear only three times, with the Aggies going 1-2 in those games.
- Corso has picked Notre Dame 13 times in their 36 appearances on the show, with the Fighting Irish winning each of the last four times their headgear has been selected.
Show Highlights & Guests
- Coaches – Aggies head coach Mike Elko will join the GameDay desk during the show while Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will talk to the crew from the field ahead of the Aflac Kickoff Game against Georgia, and Neal Brown (West Virginia) will join from the field ahead of Penn State at WVU. Kalen DeBoer provides exclusive access as the newest Alabama head coach is wired for sound in a team meeting ahead of his Crimson Tide premiere.
- Coach’s Film Room – Saban takes us inside his film room to break down Elko’s third-down defense ahead of the Texas A&M head coach’s debut game in Aggieland.
- Special guests – New College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark joins the GameDay set to discuss the expanded Playoff, Aggie great Von Miller returns to College Station and American country singer-songwriter Dylan Gossett performs for the CGD crowd.
- Guest picker – Former Aggie quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel comes back to College Station for his first appearance as a guest picker on College GameDay during the Week 1 show.
- Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest – Returning for its second season, GameDay will offer an exclusive contest during the live show, Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest. 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. If the contestant successfully completes the kick, he/she will be awarded $25,000 from McAfee. Full details, including official rules, can be found here.
Additional guests will be announced ahead of Saturday’s show on ESPN PR’s Twitter and College GameDay’s Twitter.
Features:
- Nine-Year Plan – Many people choose to retire and move to Florida, but that’s not quite the case for Miami tight end Cam McCormick, who began his collegiate football career at Oregon in 2016. Having endured multiple season-ending injuries, he has only been able to play three full seasons. Now at 26 years old and in his ninth year of college and at the University of Miami, McCormick is determined to play his final season of college football. Jen Lada reports.
- Mentally Prepared – Oz the Mentalist pays a visit to Texas A&M to wow the Aggies with some mind-reading magic and tricks that leave the team stunned, shocked and in absolute awe.
- Big Fish New Pond – Pete Thamel sits down and casts away with new Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard to talk about his love of fishing, his family’s connection to Notre Dame and how that factored into his decision to transfer, and what it will be like to face his former Duke coach in his debut with the Fighting Irish.
ESPN’s Expansive Digital Coverage
ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay Presented by Dr Pepper, heads to Texas A&M for Week 1 with hosts Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr., back for their third season together.
The show is available across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App at 8:20 a.m. ET weekly.
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