ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot travels to Utah for the second consecutive week, this time setting up live in Salt Lake City from the University of Utah’s President’s Circle ahead of the Utes’ marquee Big 12 clash with Houston. The show airs Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m.-noon ET on ESPN, ESPNU, Disney+ and the ESPN App. Kickoff for No. 14 Houston at No. 10 Utah is set for 10:15 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Buffalo Bills tight end and former Utah standout Dalton Kincaid will serve as this week’s celebrity guest picker, as announced on The Pat McAfee Show.
College GameDay remains in the Beehive State for the second straight week — the first time since 2019 the show has originated from the same state in consecutive weeks during the regular season (Week 1: Oregon vs. Auburn in Fort Worth, Texas; Week 2: LSU at Texas in Austin, Texas).
Saturday’s stop marks the seventh time Utah has hosted College GameDay and the third time in the last four seasons the show has made the trip to Salt Lake City. Since 2023, only Ohio State and Alabama have welcomed the show more frequently. Saturday marks the Houston Cougars’ second College GameDay appearance and first since they hosted in 2011 against SMU.
The visit comes on the heels of a historic Week 7 in college football, in which five of the top seven teams in the AP Poll were defeat for the first time in the 90-year history of the poll. Amid the chaos, Utah remained unblemished, extending what is now the longest active win streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision at 12 games.
Rece Davis returns as host and is joined at the desk by analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. College football insider Pete Thamel, college football analyst “Stanford Steve” Coughlin and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the College GameDay cast for the 2026 college football season.
Coming off its most-watched season ever, College GameDay continues its record-setting 2026 campaign. Last week’s episode from Provo, Utah, averaged 3M viewers — the third most-watched episode in show history. The 2026 season now includes six of the top 10 regular-season episodes of all time.
Show guests and highlights
- Utah head coach Morgan Scalley joins College GameDay live on set ahead of the Utes’ home game against Houston.
- Miami head coach Mario Cristobal joins College GameDay live from the field ahead of the No. 1 Hurricanes’ matchup against Pittsburgh at noon ET on ESPN.
- The GameDay Film Room with Nick Saban returns with a breakdown of the keys behind No. 12 Kentucky’s success.
- College GameDay goes all access with UCLA head coach Bob Chesney, who was mic’d up during practice this week.
Features
- “Russian Roots: The Journey of Alex Golesh”: Auburn head coach Alex Golesh grew up in a communist state in the Soviet Union. Fearing for their future, Golesh’s parents and their two sons left Moscow with $400 and immigrated to the United States in 1991 when Alex was seven years old. The boy who grew up playing hockey would learn to speak English, fall in love with football and ultimately ascend to the top of the sport in one of the most improbable journeys in recent memory. Jen Lada reports.
- “Cowboy Up”: When he’s not coaching his defenders to wrap up opposing ball carriers, Utah defensive coordinator Colton Swan is roping and wrapping up steers at the rodeo. The Idaho native grew up in a small town in the Magic Valley just a couple hundred miles from the Utah campus. Life on his grandfather’s ranch ignited two passions — football and being a cowboy. Jess Sims reports.
- “Just the Two of Us”: It’s been said that if a team has two quarterbacks, it most likely has none — but don’t tell that to the University of Utah. Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin are reinventing the position by showing that two could possibly be better than one. By finding a way to share the field, the Utes have built one of the most productive and entertaining offenses in football, giving themselves a unique advantage against all comers.
- “Chaos”: It started out like any other college football Saturday — until it wasn’t. Five of the top seven teams in the AP Top 25 came crashing down in defeat for the first time in the 90-year history of the poll. The historic Week 7 opens the door for a new crop of contenders and, dare we say, college football parity. Ryan McGee reports.
Pat McAfee’s ‘Kicking is Easy delivered by The Home Depot’
The fan-favorite segment returns to College GameDay for its fourth season. Fans who arrive early will have a chance to be selected from the on-site pit to attempt a 33-yard field goal. Throughout his time on the show, McAfee and the contest have awarded more than $14 million through prizes and charitable donations. Full details, including official rules, can be found here.
Countdown to GameDay
Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr. return for their fifth season as co-hosts of ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay, with Sims joining the duo this season as an additional co-host, reporting live from the College GameDay site each week. The show is available weekly at 8:20 a.m. ET across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
ESPN College GameDay Scavenger Hunt comes to Salt Lake City
The ESPN College GameDay Scavenger Hunt continues in Salt Lake City, giving students and fans an interactive way to engage with the show throughout the week leading up to Saturday’s live show. Registration is now open; the contest runs Wednesday, October 21 through Friday, October 23 at 3:30 p.m. MT via a dedicated digital microsite, featuring three challenges that include snapping photos of campus landmarks and answering trivia about College GameDay.
Fifteen winners will be selected at random from participants who complete all three tasks. Each winner, plus one guest, receives access to a premium seating area near the front of the College GameDay set within camera view and exclusive College GameDay merchandise. Additional participants will also win official College GameDay merchandise.
ESPN collaborated with experiential agency Assembli on the interactive digital and on-site fan experience, and with Flowcode connecting the initiative inside the new College Football ESPN Fan House.