College GameDay will be heading to uncharted territory for its Week 7 show, with a rare trip to Provo, Utah, for the titanic matchup between No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 8 BYU.
The Fighting Irish (6-0) and Cougars (5-0) are both unbeaten, with both carrying huge national championship hopes into the primetime showdown that will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. But many hours before kickoff, College GameDay will be back on BYU’s campus for the first time since 2009, and it’ll be celebrating this Cougars team that’s in a huge spot as it hosts arguably the biggest brand name in the sport.
A couple of days before the big game and before the big show in Provo, it was announced who the celebrity guest picker would be amid that beautiful BYU backdrop. The big announcement was made on Thursday afternoon on The Pat McAfee Show, and the choice is as pure BYU as a player ever could be.
It’ll be Steve Young, who played quarterback for the Cougars from 1980-83. Young was a unanimous All-American and the Davey O’Brien Award winner during his final season in Provo in 1983, and Young’s No. 8 is retired at BYU, so we’re talking about a legendary Cougar who’ll be joining the guys on the College GameDay set on Saturday morning.
Of course, Young went on to an equally legendary NFL career, most notably with the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he captured 3 Super Bowl championships. Young was a 7-time Pro Bowl selection and a 2-time NFL MVP with the 49ers, so he’s an icon in San Francisco, too.
But Saturday will be all about celebrating Young’s college career at BYU, in the leadup to the Cougars’ huge game against the Fighting Irish.
Here is how it looked and sounded on Thursday with Young being announced as the celebrity guest picker:
With Notre Dame and BYU battling in primetime, the winner will get a huge leg up in the pursuit of a College Football Playoff berth. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the best odds going into Week 7 to make the coveted 12-team field that will be announced in December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
