ESPN’s College GameDay will be on site for Ohio State at Notre Dame
South Bend, College GameDay is coming to your city. ESPN’s flagship pregame show will officially be on site for the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sept. 23.
Notre Dame hosts the Buckeyes for the first time since 1996 and just the third time ever. The Irish are 2-4 all time vs. OSU and have not beaten the scarlet and silver since 1936. Ohio State has won the last four meetings, most recently in 2022’s season opener. The Buckeyes won that game 21-0, and GameDay was on site in Columbus prior to that one as well.
The first College GameDay show ever aired from South Bend in 1993 for the Irish’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Florida State. In all, Notre Dame will have appeared on College GameDay 35 times including Saturday’s upcoming show.
It will be just the 11th time for the show to make its way to South Bend, though. The last time GameDay went to Notre Dame was during the COVID season in 2020 when the Irish beat No. 1 Clemson in double overtime.
College GameDay airs from 9 a.m. ET right up until kickoff of the noon ET games every Saturday. ESPN’s set in South Bend is usually located in the grassy area between Notre Dame Stadium and the Hesburgh Library, which is the building with the “Touchdown Jesus” mural painted on the south side facing the stadium.
So far this season, College GameDay has set up in Charlotte for the North Carolina vs. South Carolina game in Week 1, Tuscaloosa, Ala., for Texas vs. Alabama in Week 2 and Boulder, Co., for Colorado State vs. Colorado.
There is a non-zero chance College GameDay could return to South Bend next month if the Fighting Irish are still undefeated when they host reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans on Oct. 14.
As long as Irish quarterback Sam Hartman is playing at the level at which he has started his sixth and final college season — he’s 64-of-90 (71.1 percent) for 1,061 yards and 13 touchdowns — Notre Dame is a national attraction worthy of all the air time it can get.
Notre Dame is in as good of a spot as it has been in recent years to get College GameDay legend Lee Corso to put on a Leprechaun getup and do an Irish jig when making his game prediction. We’ll see if Corso sides with the home team in one week.
