Despite a methodical changeover of personnel in recent years, ESPN’s College Gameday has continued to raise its own bar when it comes to college football pregame shows.
The traveling production’s Week 6 stop in Tuscaloosa was forced indoors due to the inclement weather caused by Hurricane Isaias throughout the Southeast, but that did little to dampen the energy of the Alabama faithful and the willingness of the general public to watch on TV.
According to ESPN PR, last Saturday’s show averaged 2.8 million viewers, which matches the most-watched Week 6 episode College Gameday has ever produced.
Up to this point, the 2026 campaign has produced 5 of the 10 most-watched regular season episodes in College Gameday’s history. That is a sign that, despite the many recent changes and murky future of the sport, college football is still one of the fastest-growing pastimes in the United States.
College Gameday is set to visit Provo, Utah, this weekend for BYU’s clash with Notre Dame, and the Cougar faithful are sure to attempt to one-up those from Alabama. The show hasn’t visited BYU’s campus since 2009, which ended in a 38-7 defeat for the home side at the hands of Gary Patterson’s TCU.
Parker is currently the sports editor for Gulf Coast Media in Foley, Alabama. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
