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ESPN announces College Football Playoff national championship kickoff moved up an hour

Nikki Chavanelleby:Nikki Chavanelle09/15/22

NikkiChavanelle

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ESPN announced a change to the scheduled airtime for the College Football Playoff national championship on Thursday. The title game will now kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET instead of 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2023.

The CFP season finale game will be at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California this year.

Leading up to the finale, CFP games go down on Dec. 31, 2022 from the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona and Peach Bowl in Georgia. 

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After narrowly escaping an upset at Texas on Saturday, the Alabama Crimson Tide remains the favorite to win the national title this season. Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson and USC are the four programs chasing Nick Saban’s squad through Week 2. The Bulldogs overtook Alabama in the AP Top 25 poll after a dominant, shutout performance against Samford.

ESPN College GameDay announces Week 3 location

When looking at the schedule for Week 3, there are some big-time matchups occurring in college football. Miami will travel to the Lone Star State to face off against Texas A&M, while Penn State heads south to play Auburn. However, of all the games, College Gameday has made an interesting decision on their Week 3 location.

Appalachian State is set to host the ESPN pregame show this Saturday, having Troy on the schedule. Host Rece Davis originally teased the possibility on the air but did not reveal the location. Now, the word is out. Boone, NC will welcome College Gameday to town in the near future.

The timing is perfect for the Mountaineers, who are fresh off an upset of Texas A&M. They played well in Week 1 as well, taking North Carolina to the wire in a thrilling matchup. Appalachian State might have a 1-1 record but it’s been an exciting two games.

As for Troy, they are 1-1 on the season as well. The Trojans opened the year with a loss to Ole Miss, while they took care of business vs. Alabama A&M on Saturday. Appalachian State has more than a credible opponent in town for Gameday.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.