ESPN’s “College Gameday” Heading To Happy Valley Next Week For Ohio State-Penn State
“Big Noon Kickoff” will not be the only notable pregame show in town for Ohio State’s matchup with the Nittany Lions. ESPN also announced Sunday morning that it will send its “College Gameday” show to State College, Pa., to preview the top-five Big Ten battle.
This will be the second time in four weeks Ohio State will be the featured game on ESPN’s 14-time Emmy-Award-winning pregame show, the first occasion being the Buckeyes’ Oct. 12 matchup against Oregon in Eugene, Ore.
The show has not been kind to the Buckeyes recently, though, with Day’s team losing its last two matchups when it is on site for an Ohio State game, including the 32-31 loss to the Ducks and last season’s 30-24 loss at Michigan.
Still, the Buckeyes do have historic success with “Gameday,” on hand, holding a 40-19 record in their 60 all-time appearances on the show, the latest win coming just over a year ago for Ohio State’s win over the Nittany Lions in Columbus last October, when Stroud served as a guest picker prior to kickoff.
“College GameDay” now features a panel consisting of host Rece Davis and analysts Lee Corso, former Buckeye quarterback Kirk Herbstreit, former Michigan wideout Desmond Howard, former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who is in his first year in his role on the show.
Corso has donned Brutus Buckeye’s head gear 42 times in his 28 years as Gameday’s game picker, the most out of any program. The Buckeyes were also Corso’s first-ever headgear selection on Oct. 5, 1996, when he correctly chose Ohio State over Penn State in what was a 38-7 victory for the Buckeyes.
He was unable to put on the Brutus headgear for the Oregon game because he didn’t make the trip to Eugene, Ore., due to health reasons, but still indicated to the show that he was going to pick his “first love” Buckeyes.