Paul Finebaum confirms College GameDay was going to Kentucky before South Carolina loss

Oct 21, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The ESPN College Gameday crew broadcasts from the field prior to the NCAA football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio Stadium. Credit: © Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kentucky was, in fact, scheduled to host College GameDay ahead of its Week 3 matchup vs. No. 1 Georgia, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has confirmed.

In the Wildcats’ place? South Carolina, who beat them to a pulp at Kroger Field on Saturday to reroute the GameDay crew featuring Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban from Lexington to Columbia.

College GameDay announced it would be in town for South Carolina’s matchup vs. LSU next weekend late Saturday evening. Finebaum talked about the national preview show’s decision to go to Columbia on Sunday’s edition of The Matt Barrie Show. His takeaway? ESPN didn’t know what to do with GameDay considering the weak slate of games after penciling in Lexington as the anticipated location.

And their final pick was an odd one, to say the least.

“I had callers this week from Columbia say, ‘Hey, when do you think we’re gonna get rid of Shane Beamer?’ They were as down on him as they could be, now they have College GameDay? Which — I don’t know where that bus was going,” Finebaum said Sunday. “GameDay is great, but the idea that GameDay would go to LSU at South Carolina? I mean that is one of the more bizarre GameDay choices in its history.”

Barrie, a regular SportsCenter host, was quick to give South Carolina and Beamer credit for pulling off the statement upset at Kentucky, a game the Gamecocks entered as two-score underdogs.

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“Good for Beamer and good for South Carolina, because the spotlight is going to be on Columbia,” he said.

“He stole GameDay from Lexington,” Finebaum responded.

“He went in there, got the win and Mark Stoops is puzzled,” Barrie added. “He got the GameDay bus to reroute its way to Columbia.”

South Carolina steamrolled Kentucky by a final score of 31-6, holding the Wildcats from scoring a single touchdown while allowing just 183 total yards of offense and 44 yards through the air with two interceptions. The wheels came off for Mark Stoops’ group in Lexington and Beamer and the Gamecocks capitalized.

Now, they’ve been rewarded with College GameDay in Columbia for the first time in a decade. Meanwhile, Lexington’s streak without hosting GameDay holds firm at 17 years (and counting).

That’s a tough pill to swallow, no other way to spin it.