The 2026 college football season is just a few weeks away.
College GameDay has already announced its location for the first 2 weeks of the upcoming season — Baton Rouge and Austin. ESPN’s flagship preview show will be on hand for LSU vs. Clemson in the Battle for Death Valley. They’ll then move to Darrell K. Royal Stadium for the rematch between Ohio State and Texas in Week 2.
After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
Last year in this piece, I went a dismal 2-11 after going 7-6 the prior year. GameDay was much more willing to go outside of its SEC reputational footprint than I was giving it credit for. Last year, the show went to 8 non-SEC campuses between Weeks 2 and 14. Out of 5 November Saturdays, GameDay went to zero SEC schools, instead choosing to visit Salt Lake City, Lubbock, Pittsburgh, Eugene and Ann Arbor.
Lesson learned.
Predicting College GameDay locations
With that in mind, here are my College GameDay location predictions for 2026:
Week 3: LSU at Ole Miss
This is the easiest pick on the board. The timing isn’t perfect since GameDay will have just been to an LSU game in Week 1, but I can’t see any way that the World Wide Leader passes up on the opportunity to showcase Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford — nor should they. This is one of the most highly-anticipated regular season college football games in recent memory.
The only high-profile comparison I can muster is when Baker Mayfield went back to Lubbock after transferring from Texas Tech to Oklahoma. Mayfield was serenaded with expletives and “Traitor” paraphernalia before delivering an absolute instant-classic performance. Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes combined to throw for over 1,200 yards in a 66-59 win for the Sooners. We can only hope LSU and Ole Miss will deliver something as memorable.
Week 4: Oregon at USC
There are 3 premium SEC games this week (Oklahoma-Georgia, Texas-Tennessee and Texas A&M-LSU) but I think GameDay will be itching to get out of the SEC footprint by Week 4. Oregon at USC provides a perfect opportunity to do so with 2 national brands who have College Football Playoff aspirations in 2026.
Week 5: Miami at Clemson
This is a pretty light slate overall. There’s not a marquee matchup in the SEC or the Big Ten, so this would be a good chance for GameDay to visit an ACC campus. Clemson will likely be a significant home underdog in this game unless it pulls off the Week 1 upset against LSU. As for Miami, the Hurricanes are entering the year as a CFP contender but this game will serve as their first real test of the 2026 season.
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Week 6: Georgia at Alabama
One bright spot of the SEC’s new scheduling format is we will get UGA in Tuscaloosa (and vice versa) once every 4 years. Typically we’ve only seen this matchup in the SEC Championship Game or College Football Playoff. Georgia has only played in Tuscaloosa twice since 2008. Alabama has largely dominated this series, but UGA has won 2 of the last 3 postseason meetings including last year’s SEC Championship Game.
I think this will end up being the choice, but there are some other strong contenders. Texas vs. Oklahoma is this week (though the Sooners could have a loss or 2 already given their tough schedule). I could see GameDay choosing USC at Penn State if both teams are undefeated entering Week 6. Notre Dame is also hosting Stanford in a classic rivalry matchup.
Week 7: Notre Dame at BYU
There are some great SEC rivalries on the docket this week, led by Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee. But given that I’m projecting GameDay to be in Tuscaloosa the week prior, I’m taking those games off the board. Instead, I think GameDay will head west to BYU as the Cougars welcome in a Notre Dame team that’s likely to be undefeated at this point in the season.
BYU is one of the Big 12’s favorites and could also have an unblemished record in Week 7. Lastly, GameDay is long overdue for a trip to BYU. The show hasn’t been in Provo since 2009, which was its only appearance at BYU’s campus to date.
I hope we see them in Provo, but I couldn’t fault GameDay if they choose a monster Big Ten matchup instead. Week 7 in the Big Ten features Ohio State at Indiana as well as Penn State at Michigan and Nebraska at Oregon.
Week 8: Boise State at Washington State
There’s not an obvious pick on the board for Week 8. There are some interesting SEC games this week, but most would feature repeats based on the above projections (Texas A&M-Alabama, Ole Miss-Texas and LSU-Auburn). The Big Ten has Indiana at Michigan, but there’s a chance GameDay will have been in Bloomington the prior week.
Given the lack of obvious choices at the P4 level, I’ll give the nod to Boise State at Washington State. The Broncos are expected to contend for a CFP spot this season, making this a crucial road game on their quest to get back into the 12-team field. Wazzu and College GameDay have a deep history with ‘Ol Crimson appearing at over 300 consecutive shows. However, GameDay hasn’t been to Pullman since 2018.
Week 9: Florida vs. Georgia
This has a good chance to be the best game of the week, especially if Florida can be 5-2 or better entering Week 9. This game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta due to ongoing stadium construction in Jacksonville. GameDay prefers to go to college campuses, but it is familiar with this stadium having gone there many times for the SEC Championship Game. This will also mark a unique opportunity to showcase the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Atlanta as the series will move to Tampa in 2027 before returning to Jacksonville in 2028.
Week 10: Miami at Notre Dame
I’m giving a slight, slight edge to Miami-Notre Dame over Oregon-Ohio State in Week 10. Admittedly, I don’t feel great about that pick. But given their respective schedules, I think Miami-Notre Dame has a better chance to be a top-10 matchup in Week 10 than Oregon-Ohio State (the Buckeyes play Texas, Indiana and USC on the road before this game). As an additional point, going to South Bend would give GameDay a chance to honor the late Lou Holtz, who passed away earlier this year. Holtz was Notre Dame’s head coach for the Irish’s famous “Catholics vs. Convicts” victory over the Hurricanes in 1988.
Week 11: Michigan at Oregon
I’ve got Oregon projected to be the visitor for College GameDay in Week 4, but I think the Ducks will also get a chance to host in 2026 if they live up to expectations. With Michigan coming into town, this marks arguably Oregon’s best home game of the season. GameDay loves to go to Eugene — it’s been there 4 times in the last 3 years, including twice in 2025.
Week 12: LSU at Tennessee
This is a bet on Tennessee being CFP-relevant in late November, which may prove to be a bad bet. But if the Vols have 2 or fewer losses, this is an obvious choice with a massive brand like LSU coming to town. Tennessee has one of the best campus environments in the country and GameDay has a strong history of going there when the Vols are competitive — they went to Knoxville twice in 2022 when Tennessee got off to a 7-0 start. This is the penultimate week of the regular season, but the slate looks rather flat. Other similarly-speculative candidates include Texas A&M-Oklahoma, Virginia Tech-Miami or Indiana-Washington.
Week 13: Auburn at Alabama
Rivalry weekend is more spread out than usual this year. A number of plausible options, including TCU-Texas Tech, the Egg Bowl, Florida-Florida State and Texas-Texas A&M, are off the board because they’re taking place on Thursday or Friday. I do wonder if we could see a special Friday edition of GameDay on Black Friday given the quality of ESPN’s slate, but that’s purely speculative.
As for the Saturday games, I think it’s time for GameDay to go back to the Iron Bowl. Ohio State-Michigan is the other heavy-hitter on Saturday, but that’s been GameDay’s regular-season finale in 4 of the past 5 seasons. If Auburn is at all competitive late in the year, this game could have real CFP implications. GameDay hasn’t been to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl since 2020 when no fans were permitted due to the pandemic. Before that, it hadn’t happened since 2014.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
