Analyzing the College GameDay Sites and Guest-Picker Each Week of the College Football Season

The college football schedule watch season is upon us. We’re planning the days to tailgate.

We’re taking a look at the Saturdays when you just have to tell someone, “Don’t bother me on this day” in the fall.

We’re keeping track of the marquee matchups as well as the days where absolute anarchy could occur. We’re projecting win totals for our schools. It’s beautiful. It’s full of hope.

And then it completely crashes because of how unpredictable and full of anarchy it is.

There is a chance where we get the “WEEK 7 OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS LOADED 😱” graphic featuring a plethora of preseason ranked vs ranked matchups, and none of them have any leverage at all.

But other ones will! And that’s the beauty of the marathon of a season.

The pre-game viewing experience has become oddly a way of defining your American Saturday viewing experience. Of course, there’s streamers now, there is the revamped FOX crew, but the standard has been ESPN’s College Gameday that travels to the location of a campus for the “big game” of the week, previously had Lee Corso make a helmet decision and has now been replaced with Pat McAfee doing a wrestling impression in front of the students, and has a guest-picker of some sort. That guest picker has usually been some country singer you may or may not have heard of, or an alumnus of that school, who is usually just there to promote himself or herself and say, “I think we’re going to win!”

There is also politicking in the selections of the games. You can’t go to Texas every single week because they’re always ranked and will likely play many ranked games.

There is a balancing and leveling of the field to have some representation as well as storylines and narratives with stakes.

Let’s try and not only predict where Gameday will go, but give us an appetizing prediction of some of the juiciest games of the season week-by-week.

WEEK 0: TCU vs North Carolina (From Ireland)

Celebrity Guest-picker: Bill Burr

We’re still doing the Week 0 thing because we have to at this point. Truly the only game that matters that week is the annual Ireland game, the rematch between TCU and UNC after the Frogs humiliated the Belichick debut.

It would be fitting to have Bill Burr, a Boston sports guy who could throw jabs at Bill, and also be there as someone who also travels to bucket-list sporting events when not doing standup.

WEEK 1: Clemson at LSU

Celebrity Guest-picker: Shaquille O’Neal

Ah, the Lane Kiffin debut against Dabo from Baton Rouge at night. Week 1 is a bit lackluster, but we all want to see arguably the face of college football in his first home game. Shaq will be there as a now ESPN employee, an LSU alum, and someone who will say yes to anything.

WEEK 2: Ohio State at Texas

Celebrity Guest-picker: Owen Wilson

The rematch of the opening preseason #1 against preseason #3 reigning champion Buckeyes in which Arch Manning left the entire nation… underwhelmed to say the least. The Longhorns will look to make a statement here, and Owen Wilson will be there.

He’s a Texas grad, and this game occurs the weekend of his new movie Runner to promote.

WEEK 3: LSU at Ole Miss

Celebrity Guest-picker: Katy Perry

The most drama-filled game of the season on the calendar, Lane Kiffin returning to the dumped girlfriend of Oxford, Mississippi, calls for the return of a legendary guest-picker of old: Katy Perry. It’s hard to believe it happened 12 years ago, but she randomly showed up at the Grove in a pink sweater waving a corndog to mock LSU and going 7-2 in her picks. I have no idea what she is up to now since the Teenage Dream era and falling off, but maybe she needs this.

WEEK 4: Oregon at USC

Celebrity Guest-picker: Juju Watkins

This is a make-or-break year for USC. It feels like we’ve said this every year for Lincoln Riley, but here we are. They’ll “likely” be undefeated, hosting an Oregon team with National Championship or bust expectations, as well as having one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for Jayden Maiava.

Juju Watkins has become one of the biggest stars in women’s college basketball and could easily make a Gameday appearance here with her rise to fame as a USC alum.

WEEK 5: Texas Tech at Colorado

Celebrity Guest-picker: Shedeur Sanders

They are obligated to have at least one Deion game here, and this time they get to host the new villains of college football.

This also aligns perfectly for Shedeur to play the Thursday night game for the Browns and then swing a trip back to his alma mater and be the guest-picker for his old man’s game.

WEEK 6: Georgia at Alabama

Celebrity Guest-picker: Julio Jones

Perhaps a game that we’ve seen all too many times with the very frequent SEC Championship game matches, but one that GameDay will never pass up. Julio Jones, Bama legend and, in a way, legend in the state of Georgia for his Falcons career, is now a retired man! 

WEEK 7: Notre Dame at BYU

Celebrity Guest-picker: Ken Jennings

The Pop-Tarts Bowl that never was. It’s a major game for both of these programs as one of the only matchups with monumental stakes on their schedules, and being in scenic Provo is going to make the Cougar fans alive and well with plenty of opt-out jokes at Marcus Freeman’s expense.

Gameday hasn’t been there since 2009, so Ken Jennings will be there too and get to prove that his picks are smarter than Pat McAfee’s.

WEEK 8: Indiana at Michigan

Celebrity Guest-picker: Tim Robinson

The National Champions making a trip to the Big House is one that they won’t be able to pass up. Michigan could be as poor as everyone talks about Bryce Underwood this offseason, or Kyle Whittingham could have the team humming after jumping from Utah to a place that’s been a football juggernaut.

Tom Brady can’t be there as much as he’d like to do everything because of his contract with FOX, but there’s a new champion icon hailing from the state of Michigan, and his name is Tim Robinson.

WEEK 9: Arizona at Texas Tech

Celebrity Guest-picker: Garth Brooks

They have to have at least one game in Lubbock after their offseason and the championship expectations with the 74th-ranked strength of schedule, right? Arizona and Noah Fifita are going to look to be one of the offenses that overperformed last year that could potentially throw some punches at the Red Raiders and give their soft draw a blemish.

They’re going to play it safe and not talk about gambling or Cody Campbell at all, so the band-aid for that situation is just saying, “Let’s have a Texas country music guy on the show!”

WEEK 10: Miami at Notre Dame

Celebrity Guest-picker: Shane Gillis

The Catholics vs. Convicts rivalry has never been more heated after last year’s College Football Playoff debacle, and both teams are back this year with championship aspirations.

Shane Gillis, the Irish icon, will be back in full force to annoy Nick Saban and make jokes about Michael Irvin the barking dog.

WEEK 11: USC at Indiana

Celebrity Guest-picker: Mark Cuban

You have to have at least one game at the house of the reigning champs, right? Let’s get the soft boys from sunny LA to come into the house that Cignetti built in the middle of a winter tundra.

Mark Cuban will be there as the king of retrospect as an Indiana alum and claim that he had stocks in them all along. 

WEEK 12: Texas A&M at Oklahoma

Celebrity Guest-picker: Jake Hager

Both of these teams have a gauntlet of an SEC schedule (doesn’t everybody?) and could easily be eliminated from playoff contention by this time, but going to Norman to host the Aggs after both made the playoff last year this late into the season is one they won’t pass up. Jake Hager? He’s a former wrestler and Sooner fan.

For some reason, ESPN has a growing fascination with wrestling and has some wrestlers on to do the Pat McAfee thing. This is the one.

WEEK 13: Michigan at Ohio State

Celebrity Guest-picker: LeBron James

It’s the Big Game. The rivalry that is cared about more so than any other game in college football for some reason. They’ll be there. You know who else will be there? LeBron James.

No one is more pre-retired than this man, but he loves himself some Buckeye football despite never attending and probably would have gone to Duke if he went out of high school. He’ll be there throwing up the O-H while planning Space Jam 3 with James Harden.