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May 22, 2008

ESPN College Gameday Predictions


Last year, I put together an in-depth look at week by week predictions for where ESPN College Gameday may broadcast during football season. My predictions didn't fair so well early on; although, the tragedy at Virginia Tech did cause the first three weeks to get shuffled around. Had that not happened, I think my batting percentage would've been much higher.

I'm not planning to do an in depth series this year because (A) I'm not sure I care enough and (B) It took too long. However, here's my poorly researched shot at where I think College Gameday will broadcast over the first half of the season. (This was prompted by Barnhart's article on Monday in the AJC that mentioned this topic).

Predictions:
    Week 1: Alabama vs. Clemson (ESPN/ABC)

    Week 2: Miami at Florida (ESPN)

    Week 3: Ohio State at Southern Cal (ABC)

    Week 4: UGA at Arizona State (ABC) - I called this one last November.

    Week 5: VT at Nebraska (ABC) Outside shot of Bama at UGA if the Tide and Dawgs are undefeated at this point, and the game ends up as a night ESPN telecast.

    Week 6: Ohio State at Wisconsin or FSU vs. Miami

    Week 7: LSU at UF (last two defending national champs face off)
If LSU and Florida are both struggling, I could see UGA vs. Tennessee getting consideration in Week 7. But I doubt it. I think we're more likely to run into Fowler and Herbie on the road in places like Tempe, Jacksonville and Baton Rouge than we are at home.

See Also:
-- ESPN College Gameday Past Locations - Wikipedia

PWD

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Me thinks the Gameday crew would find some D-II game to go to rather than visit Athens. Oh wait, they've already done that.

-- RF

Anonymous said...

Also, considering that the Tate Center area is going to be a construction site for most of the season, I'd say the chances gameday will be in Athens is even lower...those Syracuse grads just cant's stand being near Grady College I suppose.

Anonymous said...

I call Dawgs and AZ State, no doubt.

The other ones will be tricky. They likely won't do UGA twice (they hate us), but if UGA and UF are somehow undefeated, they may once again visit Jax.

I know Herbstreit likes the UGA ladies.

Kelly and Brad said...

The question I have is what will the gameday set up be at ASU considering the three hour tailgate policy? Gameday will be at 6 am and the game will be at 5 pm. If gameday is there I have a feeling that it will be a mostly UGA crowd. I doubt many Sun Devils will be getting up early "just for a football tv show"

Anonymous said...

Actually, I seriously doubt that many UGA fans will show up for gameday in Tempe, particularly at 6 AM. The people that are going to make that trip will probably have already been to at least 4 or 5 Gameday games (02 Bama and UF, 03 USC and LSU, 04 Auburn, 05 UF, 07 Bama, etc.) and realize how boring it actually is after you've seen it once.

ASU, on the other hand, has only hosted Gameday once (USC 2005) and has never been involved in a Gameday game on the road. I'd be willing to bet that their folks will be a little more excited for it than ours will.

Anonymous said...

Would Gameday even be welcome in Athens? People will not have forgotten the hypocrisy in Herbstreit's campaigning against Georgia last year. Neither has anyone forgotten Fowler's comments about the last Gameday in Athens.

Kelly and Brad said...

You're right Fisheries, Gameday is so boring and UGA people don't care about it. That's why we complain that they never come to Athens. Also, UGA people are ALWAYS willing to get up way before dawn if it involves drinking, football, and especially the chance to heckle Lee Corso.

Arizona State fans, on the other hand, don't tailgate until three hours before the game and have a very typical Pac-10 fanbase that is much less passionate than an SEC fanbase.

The big question is what will the gameday set up be at ASU considering the three hour tailgate policy?

Unknown said...

Let's not forget that Fowler put Athens on his list of least favorite places to visit. "Every time we go to Athens, we are besieged by a hoard of over-dressed, over-served frat guys. No thanks."

Hobnail_Boot said...

If they dare show up in Athens, I promise to be both overserved AND overdressed.

Anonymous said...

Kelly and Brad,

Gameday is boring once you've seen it once or twice. The first time I went (Bama '02) I thought it was awesome. The second time I went (UF '02) it was still pretty good. By the fourth time I went (USC '04) the highlight of the entire thing was one of my friends reading "this is South Carolina football" over the canned stories just for the sake of pissing the Carolina fans off.

I've never understood why UGA fans get so worked up over them never coming to Athens. They've made it painfully obvious that if there's a decent ABC or ESPN game available they're not going to promote a CBS game. Why should I care if they're in Athens or Lincoln, Nebraska?

As far as the Arizona State fans go, I can promise you they're going to be jacked when we come to town. They'll be 3-0 and likely in the top 10 before we put them in their place. And from what I've read, that 3-hour tailgating policy has more to do with the fact that you simply can't sit out there drinking in a parking lot all day without passing out from heat exhaustion.

Smitty said...

I'll be sure to be over dressed next time. I'm always overserved....

Anonymous said...

To hell with ESPN and College Gameday.

82 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
82 said...

Another thing about Gameday in Athens is that there isn't a great place to have it. Last time it was on top of the Tate Center but you really couldn't get a good crowd there. At Bama they used the quad in '02. I wouldn't have any problems with them visiting north campus, maybe near the arch or something if they could do it without screwing up tailgating, maybe Adams can help clear an area for them? For the most part I will have to agree with most of you, they hate Athens and will most certainly promote a an ABC or ESPN game ahead of CBS. One thing I have noticed however is that the Home Depot bus has a G tag that is always hanging in the drives side window. Check that next time you see it.

Unknown said...

Who cares if they come to Athens? They're a bunch of yanks anyway. Let's get CSS here for gameday! I love those Dawgwear.net commercials!

Unknown said...

By the way, Kelly and Brad, Preston is a little darling!

Anonymous said...

A Top 5 recruiting class...a beatdown of the defending national champions...a potential #1 ranking in the nation to begin the season...two legit Heisman trophy candidates...plentiful beautiful women (just ask herbstreit)...

BOY...WE SURE DO NEED GAMEDAY HERE SO RECRUITS MIGHT GAIN INTEREST IN COMING HERE...

yeah...riiiight...

HiAltDawg said...

I just bought a couple season ticket packages for ASU and to combat the heat for tailgating I started rolling a portable bar into my gym's sauna to get in shape. Talking with the ASU ticket office phone guy, he seemed really excited about the game (and mentioned "Georgia Fans seem cool"). I get the feeling Fowler will hate Tempe after the siege of over-cooked, over-served loud obnoxious UGA fans.

 
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