Predicting Where 'College GameDay' Will Go For Every Week Of 2019 Season
ESPN College GameDay
On Wednesday, the ACC put out its schedule for the 2019 football season, at long last.
With that release, we now have dates for virtually all of the major college football games coming this fall.
While it is obviously very early, this means we have a good idea of what each week this season looks like, and can start to make some predictions.
No college football Saturday is truly complete without ESPN's College GameDay in the morning.
Last season, all but two GameDay locations were Power Five match-ups. One of the exceptions was the show's annual trip to the Army-Navy Game, the only FBS show in town that weekend. The other was Cincinnati at undefeated UCF.
With that in mind, let's take a look at where the show could head this fall...
Predicting the College GameDay location for every Saturday of the 2019 college football season.
Based on the composite schedule over at fbschedules.com.
Week 1 - Houston at Oklahoma:
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Week 1 is often reserved for a neutral site location, but last year ESPN bucked the trend by going to Notre Dame for the season opener against Michigan. The atmosphere on campus is always much more fun, so this is very welcome.
There are certainly a few prominent neutral site games, including Auburn vs. Oregon in Arlington, and Florida vs. Miami in Orlando, but Oklahoma's game against Houston captures two way more fun storylines, and puts the crew in Norman to open the year.
Oklahoma will, presumably, be breaking in Alabama transfer Jalen Hurts, whose move had been the center of college football speculation for a year. Houston stuck by its "8-4 will get you fired" guns, when it did just that to Major Applewhite, and poached Dana Holgorsen from West Virginia.
This may not go the way it did when Tom Herman led the Cougars back in 2016, but there is plenty of intrigue on both sides.
Other options: Auburn vs. Oregon (Arlington), Duke vs. Alabama (Atlanta), Florida vs. Miami (Orlando)
Week 2 - LSU at Texas:
(Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Quarterback Sam Ehlinger declared that Texas was "back" after the Longhorns' impressive Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. They'll have the opportunity to keep it rolling in Week 2 against another SEC power.
Considering ESPN's partnership with Texas on the Longhorn Network, which probably hasn't gone how anyone would hope, Texas being "back" is definitely something the Worldwide Leader wouldn't mind seriously promoting.
This is also a more novel trip than most would guess. While Texas has hosted the show six times, GameDay hasn't been to Austin in nearly a decade. The last show there was on September 19, 2009.
Other options: Texas A&M at Clemson, Army at Michigan
Week 3 - Clemson at Syracuse:
(Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
The reigning national champions may host in Week 2, if GameDay doesn't go to Austin for the first time in nearly a decade, but there is also a very appealing Week 3 game featuring the Tigers.
Two years ago at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse handed Clemson its only loss of the regular season in a Friday night stunner. Last fall, Dino Babers' club nearly did it again, losing on a heroic fourth quarter drive by back-up QB Chase Brice.
With Syracuse's 2018 breakout season, the Orange should enter the year in the Top 25, and will be favored to start 2-0 with games at Liberty and Maryland to start the year. Clemson may very well be the No. 1 team in the country. Syracuse has also never hosted College GameDay in the show's history. Athletic director John Wildhack, a former high-level ESPN executive, will likely be pushing for this extremely hard.
Other options: Pitt at Penn State, Florida at Kentucky, Iowa at Iowa State, Stanford at UCF
Week 4 - Notre Dame at Georgia:
(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
College GameDay hasn't been to Athens since 2013, when Aaron Murray and Todd Gurley were still in the Dawgs' backfield.
Two years ago, Georgia made its mark on college football with a big win in South Bend, that really set the tempo for the team's run to an SEC title and national championship appearance. This fall, Notre Dame, which is coming off of a College Football Playoff run of its own, returns to Athens.
There are a few fun conference match-ups elsewhere in the country, but none are nearly as splashy as a rare Notre Dame trip to Georgia. This feels like a near-lock.
Other options: Auburn at Texas A&M, Michigan at Wisconsin
Week 5 - Ohio State at Nebraska:
(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
This is largely dependent on Nebraska building on the end of its 2018 season. If the Huskers look explosive, and potential Big Ten West contenders, ESPN knows this will be an incredible atmosphere thanks to the Huskers' famed fan base.
Last year's game was incredibly competitive. The Buckeyes, still very alive for the College Football Playoff berth, survived two-win Nebraska 37-32. Scott Frost's team should come out firing, knowing it can win this one.
Other options: USC at Washington, Ole Miss at Alabama
Week 6 - Auburn at Florida:
(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Florida is another major program experience a long GameDay hosting drought.
The Gators have appeared on the show third most of any program, behind only Alabama and Ohio State. They haven't hosted since 2012 though.
After a strong 2018 season, Dan Mullen should be able to coax a fast start out of the team, and a big name opponent like Auburn coming to town is a good excuse for Lee Corso and company to head back down to The Swamp.
Other options: Washington at Stanford, Texas at West Virginia, Michigan State at Ohio State
Week 7 - Oklahoma vs Texas (Dallas):
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Red River Rivalry is one of those games that you can often pencil in for a College GameDay appearance, and given the Longhorns' upset win last year, and Texas' general improvement under Tom Herman, this should have major College Football Playoff ramifications once again.