ESPN is sending College Gameday to Boston for the officially dull, and unranked, matchup of Florida State and Boston College. Obviously there has to be a reason, and while some might think it's to promote the launch of ESPNBoston.com, that's actually not the case. ESPN is heading to BC in part to discuss the story of Mark Herzlich, who was the Eagles' star linebacker who was 2008's ACC Defensive POY, and diagnosed with cancer this past March. Via The Sporting Blog....

ESPN's College GameDay has been all over the country since they took their show on the road, literally, in 1993. Until this coming weekend, though, the show had only been in Boston once, parachuting into Chestnut Hill in 2005 for Boston College's first ACC game.

The reasoning for going to a matchup of two unranked teams in a town where college football may be the fourth or fifth passion? Well, at least on its surface, it likely has something to do with the story of Mark Herzlich, the BC linebacker who was 2008's ACC Defensive Player of the Year and diagnosed with cancer in March.

However, at the risk of sounding crass: Does this really require moving the entire production to Boston? ESPN's offices, it is impossible to forget, are in Bristol, Connecticut, and their crews are more than capable of driving to Chestnut Hill or Pennsylvania, where Herzlich may be with his family, and putting together a moving piece with or without GameDay in town.

I personally think where Gameday goes, isn't really important, and there's not a chance that ESPN would send the crew to hype a CBS game airing that day. Sure there's Cal-USC, and Oklahoma-Miami, but why not raise awareness for Cancer research whenever you can.

Why College GameDay Is Coming to Your City, If You Live in Boston (The Sporting Blog)

For the third time in five years, ESPN will send it's Gameday crew to Penn State. The trio will post up at Beaver Stadium before the Iowa-PSU game, and the fun will get underway at 10am, yet again....

ESPN's College GameDay will travel to Penn State Saturday for the No. 5 Nittany Lions game against Iowa at 8 p.m. at Beaver Stadium.

Host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard will broadcast from Penn State prior to the Big Ten opener for both teams. Penn State will seek redemption from the Hawkeyes, who upset the Lions late in the season last year to spoil their national championship hopes.

The program will air from 10 a.m. — noon with other live segments throughout the day, as well as late Friday afternoon.

ESPN's College GameDay head to Beaver Stadium (The Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

For the second straight year, ESPN will be taking College Gameday to Austin, TX this weekend, for the Texas Tech-Texas game this Saturday. Via Scout.com....

For the second-straight year and third time in the last five years, ESPN's College GameDay will be on site Saturday in Austin for the annual grudge match between Texas Tech and the University of Texas.

The show, which features analysts Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard, will begin at 9 a.m. (CT) and will air live from an undisclosed location on the University of Texas campus. For more information on the chosen location, visit www.texassports.com.

The Texas Tech-Texas game has kept the GameDay crew busy over the last few years as the show first broadcasted from the site of the game back in 2005 when Tech's Cody Hodges led a 6-0 team into Austin to face a 6-0 Texas squad led by Vince Young. The show made its first appearance in Lubbock last year for the matchup between No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 1 Texas.

Saturday's game between the Red Raiders and Longhorns will kickoff at 7 p.m. (CT) live on ABC from Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium. Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters will call the game for ABC.

I'm actually surprised that ESPN didn't pick Florida as the location, with Tennessee coming into Gainesville (or Nebraska @ VT), but Texas Tech-Texas is certainly a big enough rivalry now to fit the bill.

ESPN's College GameDay Headed To Austin (Scout: Raider Power)

Yes, it's that time again. Time for College Football fans everywhere to bring random signs to various campuses around the United States, and attempt to distract the Gameday crew. ESPN today, announced the first two College Gameday sites for the year, and while we already knew that Atlanta was the first, the second doesn't really come as a surprise either. Via ESPN PR....

The first two College GameDay Built by The Home Depot sites of the 2009 season have been determined with the show kicking off in Atlanta September 5 followed by Columbus, Ohio September 12. ESPN’s Emmy Award-winning Saturday morning college football show will be aired Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET beginning September 5.

The 17th season of consistently originating from one of the day’s best games or matchups with compelling storylines – and 23rd season of the show -- will kick off from Atlanta for the second annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game pitting #5 Alabama vs. #7 Virginia Tech (all rankings from the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll). The matchup will mark the debut of the fourth annual Saturday Night Football Presented by Southwest Airlines series on ABC at 8 p.m.

The following week, Saturday, September 12, College GameDay will originate from Columbus, Ohio for #4 USC at #6 Ohio State in a showdown between traditional power programs that will be televised on ESPN at 8 p.m.

Those were certainly the two obvious choices, and will certainly be different than the rest of the year. You can expect the Gameday bus to be at just about every SEC College this season, and to rarely head up North.

There was some scary news this past spring, but after some time off, Lee Corso has recovered a mild stroke that he suffered. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Corso is doing well and will be returning to College Gameday, once the season gets underway....

Nearly three months later, Corso is piecing his life together again. He's graduated from physical therapy but remains in occupational and speech therapy. The stroke affected his right side. He is learning to write all over again, just like he's learned to talk all over again.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the stroke, Corso sat down outside a Starbucks in Longwood a few days ago, took a few sips of an iced tea, and told a story etched in transformation.

A man who has reinvented himself once already — going from a struggling football coach to a glib gridiron guru — is plotting another magnificent makeover. He will be back on TV once fall football begins. The ironic twist in the challenge is obvious: A chatterbox got silenced by a stroke. His voice, as he says, is "the ultimate thing for me."

He speaks fine now. There are a few quirky moments when things don't quite connect, like when he's trying to recall precise moments through the fog of recovery. A critical step was passing a swallow test, he says, "inside the hotel (pause), inside the airport (pause), inside the hospital." It took three times, but he finally found the right word.

But don't feel sorry for Corso. He doesn't. He knows he's blessed.

He's piecing it all together slowly. He works out every day. Gathers strength in his right hand by squeezing Silly Putty. Twice a week, it's speech therapy. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr," he says, mimicking one of the tongue exercises, then moving his tongue side to side, cheek to cheek. "When I first started I felt my tongue weighed 80 pounds. And I slobbered. I'm getting better at that. I'm trying to get the brain to realize that you can do this."

The blessed part? Like most people who suffer trauma, he's gathered perspective and appreciation for life. Blessed by a family, including his wife, three sons and a daughter. Blessed by his "day job" if you will, as director of business development for Dixon Ticonderoga. It's the company's No. 2 pencils you see when Corso waves them at Kirk Herbstreit to make a point on GameDay. Blessed by getting to know people who cared from him unconditionally. Doctors, nurses, and the orderlies who bathed him during the first days of his hospital stay.

It's amazing that Lee has recovered in such a short time, and that he'll be able to return to Gameday. Sure he's a little wacky, but the show just wouldn't feel the same without him. The show is rumored to be kicking off in Atlanta, for the Alabama-Virginia Tech game, so that's when we'll get our first look at the new Corso.

Lee Corso won't let the stroke he suffered in May slow him down (Orlando Sentinel)

Scary news out of Bristol this evening. Apparently Lee Corso suffered a bit of a stroke, but everything is okay, and he is expected to back for the start of the 2009 College Football Season. Via ESPN....

ESPN College GameDay analyst Lee Corso recently suffered a minor stroke, but plans on being back for the kickoff of the 2009 college football season.

Corso suffered no permanent damage in the minor stroke, which was caused by the blockage to a small artery, according to a statement from Corso. He is expected to make a full recovery.

"This is just a small bump in the road, " Corso said in a statement issued by ESPN. "A 'not so fast, my friend' in my game of life. I look forward to making a full recovery and returning to ESPN for my 23rd season analyzing the greatest sport in the world -- college football."

Obviously thoughts should be with Corso and his family, but if Lee could survive as Burt Reynolds roommate in College, I'm pretty sure he can take on this challenge. Good luck Lee, and I think well all hope to see you back next season.

Corso Expected Back For '09 Season (ESPN)

Esquire magazine put together a collection of sixty-three different males, that the average male should emulate. Among the Sports figures were Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Phelps, Dustin Pedroia, Derek Jeter, Shaquille O'Neal and Peyton Manning, but it was the inclusion of six announcers that caught my attention. Charles Barkley, Phil Simms, Troy Aikman, Lee Corso, Barry Melrose and Dick Vitale, all were on the list, and here's the mag's reasoning on each....

Charles Barkley: "For what he said to the cops."

Phil Simms: "...and Phil Simms both seemed like towheaded dicks when they won Super Bowls, but each has come into his own as a hardworking, insightful color man."

Troy Aikman: "The manhood of some men emerges over time. They don't seem to be men, and then suddenly — or slowly — they are."

Lee Corso, Barry Melrose, Dick Vitale: "They love their jobs, and as each of them will tell you: It's hard out there for a pimp."

You know what, that's not really that bad of an assessment. As annoying as you might find some of them, they all seem to love what they do, and that's really half the battle. I personally wouldn't call them "role models", but you can certainly learn from their work ethic.

The List of Men: Sixty-Six Guys to Emulate (Esquire)

The last couple of weeks have been pretty predictable in where College Gameday was heading, and this week will be no different. Even though the SEC Championship game is on CBS, ESPN will be sending Gameday to Atlanta for the Alabama-Florida game this Saturday. The networks have also released their announcing teams a bit early, so I thought I'd put those up as well. Only one more weekend to decide the regular season Pammies (this week's nominees will be up in a few)!

Thursday, Dec. 4th

Louisville at Rutgers (ESPN, 7:30pm)- Chris Fowler, Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews

Friday, Dec. 5th

MAC Championship: #12 Ball State vs. Buffalo (ESPN2, 7:55pm)- Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone

Saturday, Dec. 6th

Navy at Army (CBS, Noon)- Ian Eagle, Boomer Esiason, Sam Ryan
#23 Pittsburgh at Connecticut (ESPN, Noon)- Bob Wischusen and Brock Huard
Conference USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa (ESPN2, Noon)- Dave Pasch and Andre Ware
NCAA Division II Semifinals: Minnesota Duluth at California-PA (ESPN Classic, Noon)- Eric Collins and Jon Ritchie
ACC Championship: #17 Boston College vs. #25 Virginia Tech (ABC, 1pm)- Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Stacey Dales
Washington at California (FSN, 3pm)- Barry Tompkins, Petros Papadakis, Jim Watson
NCAA Division II Semifinals: North Alabama at NW Missouri State (ESPN2, 4pm)- Pam Ward and Ray Bentley
SEC Championship: #1 Alabama at #4 Florida (CBS, 4pm)- Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
#5 USC at UCLA (ABC, 4:30pm)- Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe
Big 12 Championship: #20 Missouri vs. #2 Oklahoma (ABC, 8pm)- Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters
Arizona State at Arizona (ESPN, 8pm)- Mark Jones and Bob Davie
South Florida at West Virginia (ESPN2, 8pm)- Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham and Jack Arute
#13 Cincinnati at Hawaii (ESPN2, 11:30pm)- Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore

Every time I hear the town name of Stillwater, I think of the crappy VH1 movie about a band with the same name, but I digress. Gameday will be in Stillwater, more specifically Oklahoma State, next week for Bedlam 2008!

STILLWATER -- It became official late Sunday morning that ESPN College Football Gameday will broadcast its show from outside Boone Pickens Stadium Saturday before the Oklahoma State-Oklahoma game.

GameDay, hosted by Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard, will set up on the library lawn for shows on Friday and Saturday.

It is the show's first trip to Stillwater since the Cowboys hosted OU in 2004.

The Bedlam game is set to kick off at 7 p.m. and will air on ABC.

Stillwater is only about and hour and a half down the road for Norman, so the group doesn't really have that far to go. To tell you the truth though, I'm surprised they didn't head to USC for their game against Notre Dame. This will mark the fist time since 2003 that they haven't setup for more than one Trojans game in a season. Well, they could elect to go to UCLA next week, but with Alabama at Florida on the schedule, that's not likely to happen. Even though it's a CBS game, a #1 vs. #2 game is just too tough to pass up.

ESPN GameDay will be at Bedlam (News OK)

While there aren't many stellar matchups during week twelve of the College Football season, you'd think ESPN could come up with a better game to send the Gameday crew to than Hampton at Florida A&M. For some reason though, that's their choice for this coming Saturday's slate of games, and it obviously marks the first time the pregame show has gone to visit the Rattlers in Tallahassee. Via the Daily Press....

HAMPTON - ESPN will telecast its College GameDay pregame show at Florida A&M on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., before the Rattlers' 3:15 p.m. game against Hampton. FAMU becomes the first historically black college campus to host the program.

The game marks the first between schools since Joe Taylor left Hampton in late-December to become FAMU's coach. Taylor coached the previous 16 seasons at Hampton, where his teams were 136-48-1 and won eight conference titles.

"That's going to be a real big game," Hampton coach Jerry Holmes said. "He's part of my foundation of coaching. When I finished playing in the NFL, he was the first guy to give me an opportunity to coach some.

"I'm looking forward to motivating the guys and going down to Florida and playing against him."

Now I would understand the move if either team was undefeated, or one of the team's players was about to set a record. But to pick two schools, with a 5-4 record and 7-3 respectively, is a pretty odd decision. At least last year's random trip to Massachusetts for the Williams-Amherst game had some history behind it. I think saying that choice was random would be the understatement of the decade.

GameDay to be at HU game (Daily Press)

Here's your weekly post on where Gameday is heading and this one isn't much of a surprise. Chris, Lee, Desmond and Kirk will be heading to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the Crimson Tide's visit to LSU. More importantly though, it's Nick Saban's return to the team he abandoned....

Just two years later, Saban lied and denied his way from Miami to Tuscaloosa, Ala., while LSU fans cried as he bolted the big time to return to his comfort-zoned college coaching at none other than LSU rival Alabama.

And just two seasons later, Saban, who signed the most lucrative long term guaranteed contract in college football history at $32 million for eight years, has Alabama on top of the world of college football just in the nick of time for his return to the bayou. ESPN's College GameDay show will broadcast live from LSU Saturday morning.

"We want to kick his butt," said veteran LSU fan Gary Perkins of Pineville while at LSU's 35-10 win over Tulane game Saturday night. "I don't respect him. We don't respect him. He's a carpetbagger and a turncoat. I appreciate what he did and what he left us, but we don't respect him. We appreciate having him, but we don't respect him."

Man, that seems like forever ago, but it's good to see the Tigers still hold a grudge. Makes for a better game that way. With that game on CBS, it looks like Herbstreit is going to have to fly into Baton Rouge this week and then head right back to Lubbock, TX after Gameday to call the OK State-Tech game late Saturday night. Well either that or ESPN will try to make CAL-USC relevant, but I don't see that happening.

LSU fans waiting for Saban's return (The News Star)

In what will easily be the biggest showdown of the season so far (sorry USC-OSU was terrible), #1 Texas heads to Texas Tech, and College Gameday will be on hand in Lubbock for the Big XII matchup. Via Lubbock Online....

The Texas Tech football team will host No. 1 Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday, and ESPN has chosen Lubbock as its host site for its pregame show, "College GameDay."

"I don't know how you could place a price on the exposure that this brings," Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said. "It's priceless. I don't know if there's a way of knowing the value of this kind of exposure that GameDay will bring to the university and the city of Lubbock. You can't put a price tag on that."

The students aren't the only ones gearing up for the big game. Tech already has received the most credential requests for a single game in school history. The number reached 339 requests by early evening on Sunday, according to Tech spokesman Blayne Beal, with requests coming from the New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, ESPN and several bowl-game officials.

This marks the third time that ESPN is sending Gameday into the State of Texas, but it's the first time they'll be doing so on the campus of Texas Tech (they covered TTU-UT in 2005 but the game was in Austin). As far as the game itself, it's looking to be a hell of a matchup. Not only are ticket prices through the roof (upwards of $3500 on Ebay), with both team's offenses among the Top Five in the Country, but the over/under could be set at an unprecedented number.

ESPN's College GameDay' coming live from Lubbock (Lubbock Online)

This trip is the one that we all predicted would happen. With both the Longhorns and Sooners undefeated, and with the game being on ABC, ESPN will take it's Gameday crew from Nashville, TN to Dallas this Saturday. Via the Oxford Press....

The Longhorns took care of Colorado 38-14 and Oklahoma took care of Baylor 49-17 on Saturday, and seconds after each victory, the respective fan bases had moved on.

That's because No. 1 and undefeated Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) and No. 5 and undefeated Texas (5-0, 1-0) are meeting in Dallas on Saturday for the 103rd Red River Rivalry. This one promises to be one of the biggest Oklahoma-Texas showdowns ever, and not just because there will be 92,100 fans packed into the Cotton Bowl, almost twice the 46,200 the stadium seated when it first opened:

It's the first time since 2004 that both teams enter the game ranked in the top five.

That's exactly why ESPN's "College GameDay" will be camped outside the Cotton Bowl.

I don't know what it was about last week, but none of the games on the schedule were really that appealing. This week as a whole isn't better, but with TEX-OK, OKST-MIZZOU and LSU-FLA, at least we have three top tier matchups throughout the day. The Red River Rivalry should be a good one this year, and it kicks off right at noon this Saturday.

Magic is back in Texas-Oklahoma matchup (Oxford Press)

You people said I was crazy for thinking that ESPN would take Gameday to Vandy for week six, and that OSU-Wisconsin was a virtual lock, but that's exactly where the College Football pregame show will be next weekend. Vanderbilt University has confirmed that Gameday will be in Nashville (for the first time in the show's history) this Saturday for the Commodores' showdown with Auburn. Via VUCommodores.com....

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Count ESPN's College GameDay crew - yes, Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard - among the audience for Vanderbilt's nationally televised meeting with Southeastern Conference Western Division power Auburn this Saturday on campus.

ESPN officials confirmed Sunday morning that its popular "College GameDay Built by the Home Depot" show will broadcast from the Vanderbilt campus on Saturday, October 4. It will mark College GameDay's first appearance in Nashville.

Vanderbilt officials were pleased with news of College GameDay's announcement.

"This is tremendous for our university, Coach (Bobby) Johnson's program and this great city," Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor for Student Athletics and University Affairs David Williams II said. "ESPN's decision to bring College GameDay to Vanderbilt speaks volumes about the outstanding job Bobby Johnson had done during his tenure and the student-athletes he has attracted into our football program. We're extremely pleased and excited about this announcement."

In all honesty, after reading through everyone's comments about the OSU-Wisconsin game, I too thought they'd be heading up north. No dice though. The funny thing is that there's only really one possible game where they would travel above Route 70 all season and that's PSU-OSU in week nine. Other than that it's going to be back and forth between the SEC and Big XII for the rest of the year.

ESPN's College GameDay coming to Vanderbilt (VU Commodores)

ESPN moved Gameday from Arizona State to Auburn this past weekend and don't be surprised if ESPN sets up "Gameday" shop in the South for most of the season. The conference currently has six teams in the Top 25 and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now says that ESPN is going back into the state of Georgia for Week Five....

ESPN’s popular College GameDay show will air from Athens on Saturday morning, an ESPN spokesman said today.

The two-hour college-football pregame show — with host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard — travels around the country, giving a sort of signature to each week’s Big Game.

And Georgia-Alabama in Sanford Stadium on Saturday is big.

Both teams are unbeaten (4-0), and both are ranked in the nation’s top 10.

Georgia, which defeated Arizona State 27-10 Saturday night, is No. 3 in both the Associated Press media poll and the USA Today coaches’ poll. Alabama, which beat Arkansas 49-14 Saturday, is No. 8 in the AP poll and No. 10 in the coaches’ poll.

ESPN spokesman Michael Humes said Sunday afternoon that details aren’t available yet about where on the Georgia campus the GameDay set will be located. There are some logistical issues to be worked out. ESPN likes to have the stadium as the backdrop for its set. But ongoing building construction around Sanford Stadium makes that almost out of the question.

I understand that the SEC is the cream of the crop, but let's vary it up some shall we? Four of the Five destinations for the show so far have involved SEC teams and if you look ahead to week six and seven, there's really only two matchups worth highlighting and one of those is Auburn at Vandy. With LSU-Florida in week seven, ESPN might as well set up shop in the South until the Missouri-Texas game during week eight.

‘GameDay’ picks UGA-Bama (AJC)

I thought Home Depot owned all the advertising space within College Gameday but apparently I was wrong. ESPN has sold the naming rights for the Corso Picks segment (you know the one where Corso puts the mascot head on?) to Chick-Fil-A....

In the segment, ESPN analyst Lee Corso predicts the winning team by donning the mascot head or gear of one of the competing teams. It's the culmination of the show, drawing cheers or jeers from the crowd depending on Corso's pick.

Aptly enough, "GameDay's" first show this season will be in Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff, an Aug. 30 matchup between the University of Alabama and Clemson University.

The move is significant for the chain of about 1,400 restaurants because it does little national advertising, choosing instead to focus on local and regional efforts.

College students, alumni and fans make a great audience for Chick-fil-A, said Steve Robinson, the company's senior vice president of marketing. "GameDay" and football tailgating create a lively atmosphere for marketing products, he said.

The agreement includes Chick-fil-A TV commercials during the show and a live shot of a Chick-fil-A fan interaction area. Event staff in "College GameDay" and Chick-fil-A co-branded uniforms will escort a crate carrying the mascot head for Corso's announcement.

And here they come to ruin the best show on the network! I can understand a main sponsor for the show, but naming a cheesy segment that no one really cares about it, is a little much. Soon they'll have cows bringing out the headgear to Corso, while Desmond Howard eats waffle fries. It's only a matter of time.

Chick-fil-A in pick 'em role on ESPN show (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

No announcers have been assigned as of yet, but I thought I would pass along the first full ESPN/ABC College Football schedule. Kickoff Week starts August 25th with College Football Live and our first game is the clash of the titans between Vandy and Miami U. Dari Nowkhah will be studio host in Atlanta with Robert Smith and Trevor Matich and Rece Davis will lead from Los Angeles with Mark May and Lou Holtz. As previously posted, Gameday will originate from Atlanta for the Alabama-Clemson game, but you can expect a bunch of other shows to originate from the city as well that entire week. Pay attention to the "reverse mirror" info at the bottom and I'll fill in the announcers when I get word.

Also, The Pam Ward Chronicles will be back in full force that week and better than ever. I'm searching for a new logo if anyone is good with photoshop email me, but other than that we're ready to go. It's almost here people!

Here's your schedule....starting making compromises with the ones you love post haste....
__________________

Mon., Aug. 25

College Football Live (ESPN, 3:30pm)

Tue., Aug. 26

College Football Live (ESPN, 3:30pm)

Wed., Aug. 27

College Football Live (ESPN, 3:30pm)
College Football Live (ESPN2, 7pm)

Thur., Aug. 28

College Football Live from Atlanta (ESPN, 3:30pm)
College Football Live Kickoff Special (ESPN, 7pm)
Vanderbilt at Miami-OH (ESPNU, 7:30pm)
Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech (ESPN360, 7:30pm)
Charleston Southern at Miami (ESPN360, 7:30pm)
N.C. State at South Carolina (ESPN, 8pm)
Oregon State at Stanford (ESPN2, 9pm)

Fri., Aug. 29

College Football Live from Atlanta (ESPN, 3:30)
Temple at Army (ESPN Classic, 7pm)
College Football Live (ESPN, 7:30pm)
SMU at Rice (ESPN, 8pm)

Sat., Aug. 30

College GameDay from Atlanta (ESPN, 10am)
Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina from Charlotte (ESPN, Noon)
Syracuse at Northwestern (ESPN2, Noon)
Bowling Green at Pittsburgh (ESPNU, Noon)
Utah at Michigan * (ABC, 3:30pm)
USC at Virginia * (ABC, 3:30pm)
Delaware at Maryland (ESPNU, 3:45pm)
Appalachian State at LSU (ESPN, 5pm)
Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech (ESPN2, 6:45pm)
Boston College vs. Kent State from Cleveland (ESPNU, 7:30)
Alabama vs. Clemson from Atlanta (ABC, 8pm)
Michigan State at California (ABC, 8pm)
Illinois vs. Missouri from St. Louis (ESPN, 8:30pm)
Prairie View at Texas Southern (ESPNU, 10:30pm, Delay)

Sun., Aug. 31

Jackson State vs. Hampton (ESPN2, 2pm)
Kentucky at Louisville (ESPN, 3:30pm)

Mon., Sept. 1

College Football Live from Los Angeles (ESPN, 3pm)
Fresno State at Rutgers (ESPN, 4pm)
College Football Live (ESPN, 7pm)
Tennessee at UCLA (ESPN, 8pm)

(*- “Reverse Mirrors”: As many as 13 (up from eight last year) Saturday afternoon windows will feature innovative coverage in which ABC’s regional telecasts are also offered regionally on ESPN or ESPN2 to markets that are getting another game on ABC. For example, on August 30, ABC will televise Utah at Michigan and USC at Virginia at 3:30 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will “reverse mirror” ABC’s coverage, televising Utah at Michigan in markets receiving USC at Virginia and USC at Virginia to the parts of the country receiving Utah at Michigan.)

There's been no word of the College Gameday schedule for this year's College Football season, and I'm sure ESPN is waiting to announce them all at once. Unfortunately for the powers that be, Beano Cook just gave away the first stop on the Gameday tour in a chat on ESPN.com.

So which city is the lucky winner? Drumroll please....

Atlanta, GA for the Bama-Clemson Game on ABC (Saturday, Aug 30 at 8pm)!

Beano was asked what games he was most looking forward to this season when he decided to talk about his eye doctor and the first stop for Fowler and company.

Andy (Denver): What games this season are you most looking forward to?

SportsNation Beano Cook: (3:30 PM ET ) as a conference game tops my list. Georgia-LSU. USC-Ohio State. Georgia-Florida. Auburn-Alabama. Williams-Amherst. For the record, Georgia-LSUUSC-Ohio State is certainly a huge game.

SportsNation Beano Cook: (3:32 PM ET ) My eye doctor's son graduated from Williams and the school was absolutely ecstatic when Gameday arrived. By the way, Gameday will be in Atlanta for the Clemson-Alabama game. It is the best road show since Oklahoma, the musical not the team from Norman.

That was probably not that hard to figure out since it's the first ABC primetime game of the year, but I think Beano let the cat out of the bag a bit with that reveal. I had heard a rumor that it was going to be at Cal for their opener against Michigan State, but it looks like that's not the case. I'll post the rest of the schedule as soon as I come across it.

Chat with Beano Cook (ESPN Sports Nation)

(Thanks to SO for the tip)

I know you looked at that title and said, "You have to be shitting me"....but alas.....the headline is true and very unbelievable. Nelva Deeke of Hubbell, Nebraska won a Home Depot contest where the choice of an all expense paid trip to California for the Rose Bowl or College Gameday hosting a BBQ at her house. She chose the cookout. From the Star-Herald via Fanhouse....

"I could've gotten tickets, with all the amenities, to the Rose Bowl, but since Nebraska wasn't playing, I decided not to use that one," she said. Instead of a barbecue in Hubbell, Deeke and some friends met the GameDay crew for lunch at a Lincoln restaurant, May 21.

"Rather than have the barbeque, I don't think anyone wants to come to Hubbell - it's only 50 people - they picked up eight, including myself, (and) we had lunch at Vincenzo's in the Haymarket in Lincoln and the limo took us home."

She described Fowler, Herbstreit and Corso as "very nice", "open" and "friendly".

Friendly?! They should have been worshipping the ground this lady walks on. She passed up Rose Bowl tickets to hang with a bunch of Sportscasters. Unbelievable. As much as I enjoy Gameday there's not a chance I'm passing up Rose Bowl tickets.

Nebraska Woman Chooses Corso Over Rose Bowl (Fanhouse)
Nebraska woman has lunch with 'GameDay' crew (Star-Herald)

I know we're more than 5 months away from College Football, but who's ready for the first awkward moment from Gameday of the year?! Listen closely as Corso and Herbstreit jump all over Chris Fowler for almost saying the ESPN's Cris Carter is a Florida alum....

Man, things were just a little bit awkward and then Herbie had to amp it up with that "don't you ever forget it" comment didn't he? The best part is that Fowler didn't even say he was a Gator. He only got out the "Ga" and they were all over him.

But it's cool because I'm pretty sure neither of them have made mistakes before.....oh wait.