I'm going to take a crack at projecting the sites for ESPN's College GameDay's telecasts in 2007. The forecast is rather long so I'm going to break it into three separate posts. My assumptions are built on GameDay attempting to balance the desire to showcase the best game of the week with the business need of promoting games on their own family of networks (ABC, ESPN and ESPN2).Last year, GameDay televised games from competing network sites for LSU at Florida on CBS and Tennessee at South Carolina (CBS...I think). In 2005, they were at three competing network sites.
The most outrageous example of being in the wrong town was the Sept. 16, 2006 telecast which showcased #4 USC hosted #19 Nebraska. That was the same day that #6 LSU played at #3 Auburn (CBS); #11 Michigan played at #2 Notre Dame (NBC); and #7 Florida played at #13 Tennessee (CBS).
I heavily leveraged the LSUsports.net web site for the best composite week to week schedule that I've seen. With that as a backdrop...here are my predictions for Weeks 1-4...
Cal Memorial Stadium
Projection: Tennessee at Cal
Why: It's a near mortal lock. The only match-up of that Saturday putting two Top 25 teams against each other, and it's the ABC 8:00 pm (EST) game of the week. (Update: Cal is expecting it to happen)
Darkhorse: None.
LSU's Tiger Stadium
Week 2 (Sept. 8)
Projection: Virginia Tech at LSU
Why: A cross region battle of near consensus Top 10 teams televised on ESPN at 9:15 pm (EST). Combine the football aspects with the overwhelmingly compelling Virginia Tech tragedy story, and you have another near lock.
Darkhorse: Normally, Miami at Oklahoma, Notre Dame at Penn State, and Oregon at Michigan would all make great candidates for host sites. But Miami, ND and Oregon are all consensus projections to start the season outside of the Top 25.
Week 3: (Sept. 15)
Projection: USC at Nebraska
Why: The Trojans will start the season at #1, and the Huskers look to come into this game 2-0 with a ranking around 15-18th. The game is already confirmed for 8:00 pm on ABC. The Big Red crowd will be nuts in the early morning as it'll be Gameday's first trip back to Lincoln since the OU game in 2001.
Darkhorses: Notre Dame at Michigan and Tennessee at Florida. If Notre Dame can upset Georgia Tech and Penn State in weeks 1 and 2, the GameDay crew would have a tough decision to make. However, there are several games that look appealing for visits to Michigan's campus this year so even early ND momentum may not keep the GameDay crew away from UM. Tennessee at UF looks unlikely as it's a CBS game.
The Big House
Week 4 (Sept. 22)
Projection: Penn State at Michigan
Why: Penn State should be moving up the polls at a nice clip if they beat the Irish at home in Week 2. Michigan will have an excellent shot at being a Top 3-5 team for this ABC televised game. This is another very easy to project game.
Other Candidates: Unlike Weeks 5 and 6, it's not a very sexy week for college football match-ups. UGA at Alabama isn't totally out of the question if both teams roll into the game undefeated. Iowa at Wisconsin isn't totally out of the question given that it's ABC's 8:00 pm (EST) Prime Time telecast, but it seems a reach.
During Weeks 5 and 6, things start to get much more interesting.
In the coming articles, we'll discuss Weeks 5-8. We'll also look and see if there's any realistic shot of Athens hosting GameDay this year. Our last and only host game was the 1998 Tennessee debacle. More tomorrow.
See Also::
-- College GameDay Past Sites List - Wikipedia
-- Complete 2007 TV Composite Schedule - LSUSports.net
-- Preseason Mags Composite Top 25 - HeyJennySlater
PWD
