Notre Dame fan Vince Vaughn named ESPN College GameDay guest picker
ESPN is playing the hits for this weekend’s massive matchup between No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0) and No. 6 Ohio State (3-0). Actor Vince Vaughn is making his third appearance on College GameDay as a celebrity guest picker.
A noted Notre Dame fan and the actor who played Jamie O’Hara in the Fighting Irish football classic “Rudy” in 1993, Vaughn will be on site Saturday morning when it’s time for ESPN’s College GameDay crew to make picks for a packed Saturday slate.
A Minneapolis native, Vaughn’s career started in earnest with his appearance in Rudy. He’s been in several comedies since then including “Old School,” “Dodgeball,” “Anchorman,” “Wedding Crashers,” “The Break-Up” and “Four Christmases.” He’s been known to frequent Notre Dame games as a fan over the years.
This year’s Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game should bring more than just Vaughn to South Bend. The talk around town is the Fighting Irish haven’t hosted a game of this magnitude in decades, perhaps since quarterback Brady Quinn and the Irish hosted reigning national champion No. 1 USC in 2005.
Trojans quarterback Matt Leinart and running back Reggie Bush propelled USC to a 34-31 victory over the No. 9 Irish on a Leinart quarterback sneak in the final seconds of that game. The play infamously became known as the “Bush Push” because Bush came up behind Leinart and shoved him across the goal line.
Something memorable is bound to happen inside the confines of Notre Dame Stadium once again on Saturday.
The stars will be out, and the Fighting Irish will don special green uniforms. It’s Irish quarterback Sam Hartman‘s first start in a night game at Notre Dame Stadium. So far in his Irish career, Hartman has completed 71.1 percent of his passes for 265.3 passing yards per game with 12 passing touchdowns and zero interceptions in four starts. He has also accounted for two rushing touchdowns.
Notre Dame also boasts the NCAA’s No. 2 leader in rushing yards per game in junior tailback Audric Estimé who has run for 130.25 yards per game in his first four games of 2023. With Hartman and Estimé, it finally feels like the Irish have a team capable of competing with an Ohio State program that has only lost five games since the start of the 2020 campaign. The Buckeyes beat the Irish 21-10 in Columbus in the 2022 season opener.
We know Vaughn isn’t going to call for a repeat of last year’s final.
