ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will originate from Library Lawn at the University of Notre Dame on Saturday, Nov. 7, for one of the most anticipated regular-season matchups of the season. College GameDay airs at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN, ESPNU, the ESPN App and Disney+.
Saturday marks Notre Dame’s 43rd appearance on College GameDay and the 13th time the Fighting Irish have hosted the show, while Miami makes its 30th all-time appearance. Two Heisman hopeful quarterbacks – Darian Mensah and CJ Carr – will share the field on Saturday.
As announced on The Pat McAfee Show, award-winning actor Jason Sudeikis will serve as this week’s celebrity guest picker. Sudeikis attended the top-5 matchup between Notre Dame and Miami in 1988, the game that inspired ESPN’s 30 for 30 feature, ‘Catholics vs. Convicts.’
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.
College GameDay averaged 2.5M viewers from Bloomington, Indiana — the second-best Week 9 episode in the show’s history. The final hour drew 3.2M viewers, up 145% against the competition. Through nine weeks, the show is up 4% from last year’s record season average.
Show guests and highlights
- Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman joins College GameDay live on set
- BYU head coach Kalani Sitake speaks with ESPN’s Taylor McGregor ahead of No. 9 BYU’s matchup against No. 3 Utah at noon on ABC and streaming live on the ESPN app
- This week’s GameDay Film Room with Nick Saban features the highs and lows of the Texas offense ahead of the Longhorns matchup with Missouri
- Current and former Notre Dame stars Joe Montana, Jerome Bettis, and Hannah Hidalgo join College GameDay live from South Bend
Features
- “Miami Heis-man”: Miami Heisman favorite Darian Mensah is putting together one of the most prolific seasons in recent memory, leading the Miami Hurricanes to the top ranking in the country. What remains to be seen is if he has what it takes to win Miami’s sixth national championship. Desmond Howard reports.
- “Carr Strong”: Surrounded by a family that included generations of maize-and-blue Michigan men, it took a certain kind of personality and inspiration for CJ Carr to consider playing football anywhere else. For Carr, that inspiration came in the form of his younger brother, Chad. Jen Lada reports.
- “A Star is Born”: Trinidad Chambliss was unstoppable in leading the Ole Miss Rebels to a thrilling 39-34 comeback victory over No. 3 Georgia in last year’s Sugar Bowl. The quarterback relives the breathtaking plays with Marty Smith.
Pat McAfee’s ‘Kicking is Easy’ delivered by The Home Depot
The fan-favorite segment returns for its fourth season on College GameDay. Fans who arrive early will have the chance to be selected from the on-site pit to attempt a 33-yard field goal. Throughout his time on the show, Pat McAfee and the contest have awarded more than $14 million in prizes and charitable donations. Full details, including official rules, are available 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 every Saturday at 8:20 a.m. ET across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
ESPN College GameDay Scavenger Hunt comes to Notre Dame
The ESPN College GameDay Scavenger Hunt continues at the University of Notre Dame, giving students and fans an interactive way to engage with the show throughout the week leading up to Saturday’s live broadcast. The contest started on Wednesday, November 4 and runs through Friday, November 6 at 3:30 p.m. ET, via a dedicated digital microsite, with three challenges that include snapping photos of campus landmarks and answering trivia about ESPN College GameDay for a chance to win.
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 ESPN College GameDay broadcast within camera view and exclusive ESPN College GameDay merchandise. Additional participants will also win official ESPN 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.