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Iowa’s ESPN College GameDay drought continues

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Iowa City has college football’s game of the day Saturday, but it won’t have ESPN College GameDay.


Sunday, ESPN announced it will bring its show to the University of Iowa’s campus for Saturday’s Penn State-Iowa Top 5 matchup. Instead, it heads to Dallas for the Oklahoma-Texas Red River Rivalry game.




GameDay hasn’t been at Iowa since Sept. 30, 2006, the day No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 13 Iowa, 38-17.


It had already been announced that Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff football show would originate Saturday from Iowa City. That will be staged on the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest.


GameDay has been to Big Ten campuses 36 times between trips to Iowa, including 10 stops at Ohio State, seven at Penn State, five at Michigan, four at Michigan State and Wisconsin, two at Minnesota and Nebraska, and one at Indiana and Northwestern.


It was at Iowa State in 2019 and again this year for the Iowa-Iowa State games.


This will be its sixth show in Dallas for an Oklahoma-Texas contest.


Here are the number of appearances GameDay has made at university sites since that 2006 day at Iowa:


12 — Alabama


10 — Ohio State


9 — LSU, Oregon


7 — Clemson, Penn State


6 — USC, Auburn


5 — Florida, Texas A&M, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Florida State


4 — Oklahoma, South Carolina


3 — Texas, TCU, Utah, Notre Dame, Louisville, Baylor


2 — Arizona, Boston College, Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Dakota State, James Madison, Washington


1 — Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas Tech, BYU, Air Force, Boise State, Missouri, Northwestern, Indiana, Stanford, Houston, Mississippi, Florida A&M, Williams College, South Dakota State, Mississippi State, Western Michigan, UCF, Wake Forest, Coastal Carolina, Army, Harvard, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Temple, Washington State, Memphis


Since last coming to Iowa City, GameDay has been held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, New York’s Times Square, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, the USS San Diego and Augusta National Golf Club.


But Iowa City remains off the show’s map.


As for FOX’s several hours of television from Iowa City Saturday, its announcers for its telecast of Saturday’s 3 p.m. Penn State-Iowa game will be Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft.


GameDay airs from 8 to 11 a.m. It’s hosted by Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Chris “The Bear” Fallica.


FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff will air Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. It’s hosted by Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and four-year Iowa starting defensive back (and Hall of Fame coach) Bob Stoops.

 
A few thoughts:

1 - It wouldn’t make sense for ESPN to hype a game being broadcast on Fox Sports.
2 - They orchestrated UT and OU to the SEC, so it stands to reason they would prefer the Red River Shootout over Iowa/PSU, even if it’s #3 vs #4.
3 - Realistically, UT/OU has more national appeal than Iowa/PSU, even if it’s #3 vs #4.
4 - I’m glad that Bob Stoops and the Fox Big Noon Kickoff crew are coming.
5 - After the way they trolled Iowa State by bringing in Ashton Kutcher as the guest picker, ESPN’s GameDay is okay in my book for at least the foreseeable future.
 
Interesting stat that I just read on ESPN - this week's game will be the first regular season Big Ten game featuring two top five teams other than Ohio State since 1997.
 
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