David Pollack reveals his 'Mount Rushmore' of venues visited by ESPN College GameDay

Traveling around the country in the fall with the ESPN “College GameDay” crew is as good a way to see the various campuses and college towns of the United States as any method. And ESPN college football analyst and former Georgia Bulldog David Pollack delved in to some of his favorite places to have gone while speaking on “The Hard Count” with On3‘s J.D. PicKell.

For Pollack, it’s not necessarily the places that have the biggest stadiums or most storied traditions that stick with him the most, nor the places that GameDay ends up at frequently, like Ohio State or Alabama. Pollack’s favorite places are the ones that cherish GameDay coming to town like it might never come again — because, well, it might be a while until it comes back.

“Like, I’ll never forget the Washington State show. And people aren’t probably going to go ‘Wow, I remember that one.’ But it was unbelievable. The atmosphere, fireworks going off when the show came on. It’s dark at 6 a.m. I’ll never forget James Madison. I’ll never forget North Dakota State when they literally shut down the whole town and put us right in the middle of the city. Last year with App State. Those are the ones that, I think, really stand out. Going to New York City was different and strange and crazy,” Pollack said.

He continued: “But the off-the-beaten path — I love the other schools, too. But it’s just fun to go to those places that you go to that don’t ever expect to get GameDay, man they roll out the red carpet. They put on a show. The fans are like, ‘Thank you so much for coming.’ Some schools you go to, you don’t get that. It’s like, ‘Yeah you should be here, that’s us. That’s how we roll.'”

Pollack made clear he wasn’t eschewing the schools that are used to having GameDay once a year or so. Setting up shop in Baton Rouge, State College or Austin is plenty fun but there’s a certain regularity to it at a point.

Going someplace new, someplace that is over the moon to have them there, are the spots that stick with Pollack.

“Those are the ones that always stick out as so cool and so fun and the ones that, as soon I start thinking about the past shows, it comes flooding back pretty quickly,” Pollack said.