College GameDay guest picker revealed for Saturday in Cincinnati

ESPN College GameDay announced Friday that Nick Lachey will be the guest picker for the Week 10 show. The crew will be in Cincinnati to watch the undefeated Bearcats take on Tulsa.

Lachey was born in Harlan, Kentucky, but later moved to the Cincinnati area, where he attended high school. His claim to fame came from being a member of the boy band “98 Degrees,” which has sold more the 10 million records to date. He is also a part-owner of a pair of minor league teams, the Hollywood Fame (ABA) and Tacoma Rainiers (Triple-A baseball).

The ex-husband of Jessica Simpson, Lachey is known as a die-hard fan of most of the Cincinnati sports teams. He threw out of the first pitch at a Reds game on MLB opening day in 2009.

The Bearcats (8-0) are this year’s Group of 5 school pushing for a College Football Playoff appearance. They opened at No. 6 in the first edition of the CFP rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

Naturally, there are a lot of people who doubt the strength of Cincinnati. Outside of Notre Dame, the Bearcats have played no teams of merit. They narrowly escaped a Navy team with a losing record in Week 8.

Even if the Bearcats beat Tulsa — which they should — it likely won’t do anything to boost their resume. The Golden Hurricane enter this contest at 3-5 having lost to an FCS school earlier in the year.

Cincinnati is set to join the Big 12 conference in 2024 following the departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. It’s hard not to wonder where the Bearcats would fall in the conference this year. Certainly being in a Power 5 league would help their case to make the Playoff.

Lachey is sure to use his chance as the guest picker on College GameDay to support Cincinnati, though it’s not exactly a difficult choice to make. Desmond Ritter has had a breakout season at quarterback, completing 63.6% of his passes for 1,847 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Cincinnati.