College Football: Predicting each weekly 2017 College GameDay destination

College football is less than a month away, and so are are the fun perks that come with it such as the weekly College GameDay destinations.

One of the biggest honors a college football program and university can receive from late August to early December is being in the presence of ESPN’s most popular Saturday show: College GameDay.

For those who don’t know what College Gameday is, each week in the college football season, the show selects the biggest or most meaningful game of the week and travels to the home team’s campus or city to host three hours of pre-football analysis and entertainment. It is hosted by Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Kirk Hebstreit and Desmond Howard — along with many other popular personnel.

Last season, the college football season kicked off with College Gameday in Green Bay, Wisconsin- where No. 5 LSU Tigers took on the unranked Wisconsin Badgers. Many had LSU winning that game, some even fairly easily, but the Badgers took down the Tigers 16-14 at Lambeau Field to make the debut of College GameDay a good one.

We are still awaiting the official preseason college football AP rankings, which ultimately help decide the prestigiousness of the matchups. Normally a game between two highly-ranked teams bodes well as being the College GameDay destination spot.

The week one game has been announced, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead. Here are the possible spots each week for College GameDay to appear. Will we see them at your favorite college town?

Week 1: Florida State vs. Alabama

Honorable Mention:

• Michigan vs. Florida
• BYU vs. LSU

It’s official: GameDay has already announced it will travel to Atlanta for the opener.

This one really is a no doubter. While other top-tier teams are softening up their schedule and getting an “easy” win out of the way, the Florida State Seminoles and Alabama Crimson Tide are sparing no time on boosting their College Football Playoff resume.

With both teams likely to be preseason ranked in the top ten, perhaps even five, this week one matchup will not only be the best game of the week, but of the best of the season.

Of course, the Crimson Tide are fresh off that national championship heartbreak- losing to Clemson in the final seconds, while the Seminoles are on the uprise after a slow start last year.

The details of this game have all the makings for a College GameDay setting. The game will air on ABC and will be the primetime night game, with all eyes on these two squads.

Alabama leads the NCAA in most College GameDay appearances with 38. Last season they appeared in two during the regular season, and then once more in the national championship. They experienced one at home, one on the road, and then one on a neutral field- finishing with a 2-1 record overall.

Florida State also appeared in a College GameDay-hosted game in 2016, although it is one they would like to forget- losing to Lamar Jackson and the Louisville Cardinals on the road by a score of 63-20. The Seminoles have lost their last two games in which College GameDay has appeared and are fourth all-time in appearances.

The game will take place Sept. 2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.

Week 2: Auburn at Clemson

Honorable Mention:

• Oklahoma at Ohio State
• Stanford at USC
• Pittsburgh at Penn State

Week two provides a much tougher choice than week one and, frankly, it could go any direction. The Clemson Tigers will be coming off their national championship season and can be considered by many to repeat as champions.

Clemson and Auburn met last year in Auburn, Ala., with the former clinging onto a 19-13 victory. At the time, Auburn was on the verge of a huge upset as many did not see them having the success they had last year. What was thought to be an easy win to Clemson, turned into a battle of top-tier teams.

This season, both teams have high expectations and will be recognized big time nationally prior to the season kicking off. It will be the fifth time since 2013 the Clemson Tigers will host a College GameDay as they won all three of their appearances last year, two of which came in the College Football Playoff.

Auburn, on the other hand, would be looking at their 18th appearance involved in a College GameDay event, but their first since 2014. They have not won a College GameDay game since November of 2013.

Just like our week one contest, Auburn vs. Clemson will be a battle of national champion hopefuls. While a loss in one of these games does not necessarily eliminate the chance of making the College Football Playoff, a win certainly does put you lightyears ahead of other teams in the running.

A win will be expected for Clemson fans, because that is what champions do, but if the Auburn Tigers can steal one in Death Valley — we are in for a real fun season.

Week 3: Clemson at Louisville

Honorable Mention:

• Oklahoma State at Pittsburgh
• Texas at USC
• Tennessee at Florida

It is not uncommon to see College GameDay go back-to-back weeks featuring the same team, especially if it involves one away game and one home game. Week three’s matchup between Clemson and Louisville will likely be much more attractive for College GameDay programming if the Tigers can knock off the Tigers of Auburn in week two, but with two ACC favorites facing off- it is hard to see them going elsewhere regardless.

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An instant classic a year ago, Louisville will be looking to avenge the loss that basically tarnished their entire season. No matter what the Cardinals did last year following that game, Clemson was one step away from them and because of that result- Louisville’s CFP chances were severely low, regardless of their rough end to the season.

This year’s meeting will be without the dynamic quarterback duel we witnessed a year ago. Of course, national champion quarterback Deshaun Watson left Clemson and is now competing in the NFL, so all eyes will be on returning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.

Jackson finished his 2016 campaign with just over 3,500 passing yards, posting 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has a very good chance to not only return to New York City for the Heisman Trophy presentation, but win it again this year.

Of course, Louisville fans have their eyes on a bigger prize this year, and that journey starts with an early — season showdown against their newfound ACC rival Clemson.

This Sept. 16 matchup will kick off at 3:30 pm ET at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.

Week 4: Notre Dame at Michigan State

Honorable Mention:

• Washington at Colorado
• TCU at Oklahoma State
• UCLA at Stanford

Despite the struggles, there is no way you are going to go through an entire college football season without seeing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish appear in at least one College GameDay experience.

While both the Irish and Spartans struggled mightily last season, both had high expectations entering the season- and although the talent was there, unfortunately for both teams the results never mirrored the potential that came with it.

Good news for them: 2017 is a new season. Both teams will enter the new year under-the-radar and on the bottom lists of everyone’s preseason recognition boards. Yet when Sept. 23 rolls around, there is a very solid chance that we see both teams sporting an undefeated record (especially Michigan State).

This could be one of those cases that no matter what ranking the teams have come week four, the beauty of the matchup will overtake any other compelling arguments, as Michigan State-Notre Dame always boasts a marvelous rivalry game.

Last year was the first time since 2010 that Notre Dame did not appear in a College GameDay appearance. The Irish lead the all-time series over the Spartans 46-29-1 and have won three out of the last four meetings despite dropping last year’s contest.

This could be a huge springboard for two teams that struggled a year ago in the midst of high expectations. Who will turn it around? You are allowed to disagree with this pick, but there is no doubt we are in for a great game under the lights in East Lansing.

Week 5: Georgia at Tennessee

Honorable Mention

• Clemson at Virginia Tech
• Houston at Temple

The end of September means we are getting into the thick of the conference schedules, which gives the college football world much more compelling matchups and thus making it harder to decide where the coveted popular ESPN show will end up.

Week five does not pose this problem.

Georgia and Tennessee gave us one of the most exciting games of the entire 2016 schedule last season, a contest that accounted for three separate go ahead touchdowns in the final three minutes of the game, one of which was a Hail Mary caught by Tennessee’s Jauan Jennings as time expired. This, of course, was ten seconds after Georgia retook the lead with a 47-yard touchdown pass themselves.

Not only will the week five meeting between the Bulldogs and Volunteers be one of the more nationally watched games, but it is a huge early season showdown between SEC East opponents and a major factor in who will be playing in the SEC Championship game.

Dubbed the weaker link of the two conference divisions, winning games against fellow division members is a must in the SEC due to the imbalanced schedules. The winner of this game will have a leg up for the rest of the season and a true shot of winning the East.

Related Story: Ranking the top 5 SEC programs over the next 10 years

Georgia has not appeared in a College GameDay contest since 2013 and 14 of the 17 total appearances they have ever been in have been on the road. On the flip side, Tennessee was involved in three separate happenings in 2016, all of which game in a six-week span. The Volunteers went 2-1 in those games, with their only loss coming on the road at Texas A&M in double overtime.

Tennesse has won the last two meetings vs. Georgia.

Week 6: LSU at Florida

Honorable Mention:

• Kansas State at Texas
• Wisconsin at Nebraska
• Michigan State at Michigan

Speaking of imbalanced SEC schedules, a week after fellow SEC East foes beat each other up, the Florida Gators host a tough matchup from the West division as the LSU Tigers enter The Swamp in a critical showdown.

Also like the previous week, week six bodes a tall order for LSU and Florida to exceed the excitement from last year’s 16-10 Gators victory in Baton Rouge. A victory that was ended with a four-down goal line stand that prevented the Tigers from tying and taking the lead with an extra point.

LSU struggled with their offense last season, failing to exceed 14 points in all four of their losses. While their quarterback position seemed to be the weakest link on the offensive side of the ball, the team was picked up by their star running back Leonard Fournette. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Fournette just went to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL Draft.

The good news is the Tigers seemed to find their everyday starter at the quarterback position at the tail-end of last season with Danny Etling, who will be returning for his senior season. They also have a great replacement in Derrius Guice who ran for 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2016 technically as a backup.

Related Story: Is Derrius Guice better than Leonard Fournette?

Florida, on the other hand, will look to get back to the SEC Championship game after what some might say overachieving last year in the mediocre SEC East division. Nonetheless, a division title is a division title and the Gators are locked and reloaded for another championship run in 2017.

LSU is 0-3 in their last three College GameDay appearances.

Week 7: Oklahoma vs. Texas

Honorable Mention

• Auburn at LSU
• Ohio State at Nebraska
• Utah at USC

Yes, Auburn at LSU seems very attractive, but we’d like to think that ESPN will not pick an SEC game for the third straight week — although crazier things have happened.

It has been six years since College GameDay went down to Dallas, Texas, for the Red River Showdown, a game in which Oklahoma manhandled the Longhorns by a score of 55-17. At the time, both teams were ranked in the top 15 and since then, it seems like it’s usually one team (Oklahoma) that’s ranked, while the other (Texas) is not, thus creating a less-attractive destination.

It is now time to believe the rebuilding phase at Texas is close to being done. A lot of young and explosive talent is back, such as quarterback Shane Buechele, and although the Charlie Strong era is over in Austin, big things are expected for the Longhorns this season.

The same is true for the Sooners, who many believe to be a top ten team entering the season. Oklahoma enjoyed a bit of an under-the-radar season last year and probably feels like they were left out of too many CFP conversations. The Sooners finished the season 11-2, 9-0 in the Big 12 and only their only two losses came to Ohio State and Houston in two of the first three weeks of the season.

Related Story: Texas Football: 5 reasons Longhorns can win Big 12 in 2017

It is safe to assume the team will be having a chip on their shoulder entering 2017.

Dallas, Texas, appears to be a safe bet for College GameDay in week seven for multiple reasons. Not only are both teams inching closer to that elite-level status, but it is home to one of the more prestigious rivalries in all of college sports. Throw all records out the door, which is what we have been doing the past several years, because we are always in for a show one way or another when the Longhorns and Sooners collide.

Dating back to their first meeting in 1900, Texas currently leads the series 61-45 but has lost five out of last seven vs. the Sooners. Oklahoma narrowly escaped last year with a 45-40 victory.

The Sooners currently sit in fifth place all-time in most College GameDay appearances with 30.

Week 8: Louisville at Florida State

Honorable Mention:

• Tennessee at Alabama
• Michigan at Penn State
• USC at Notre Dame

The likelihood that both Louisville and Florida State get repeat occurrences this year with College GameDay is extremely high.

Last year, College GameDay visited Tallahassee in week three when Louisville marched in to play the No. 2 ranked Florida State Seminoles. While the point of the show is to attend the nation’s most intriguing matchups and likelihood for most exiting game, there was no way they could have predicted what happened then.

Louisville’s Lamar Jackson point the college football universe on notice that game, backing up his incredible stats from his first two games of the year, but this time against one of the nation’s best teams. He ran all over the Seminoles, propelling them to a 63-20 victory and ending up with 216 passing yards, 146 rushing yards, and five total touchdowns. The crowd already began yelling “Heisman” chants towards him, and they ended up being dead right on that analysis.

But, like we keep saying, it’s a new year, and both of these teams will have another opportunity to take over Clemson as the top dog in the ACC. While both teams already have an earlier meeting with the Tigers, this late season showdown will be the telling point on who is contending for a conference championship and beyond. As you may know, Florida State, Clemson and Louisville are all in the same division in the ACC.

All three meetings between these two teams since Louisville joined the ACC have been decided by double digits, with Florida State winning the first two contests before the Cardinals beat down the Seminoles last year in Louisville.

Week 9: Penn State at Ohio State

Honorable Mention:

• UCLA at Washington
• Georgia vs. Florida
• Oklahoma State at West Virginia

The game that changed everything for the Penn State Nittany Lions in 2016 was their magical comeback and victory over then-undefeated Ohio State, ultimately becoming the deciding factor in who represented the Big Ten East in the conference title game — thus leading to a 38-31 championship over Wisconsin and the opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl.

A lot can ride off of one game, but it is not common to see a season completely change from one play.

Penn State vamped on their offense the rest of the year and made 2017 Heisman candidates out of running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Trace McSorley. A team that was hurt by their early season loss to Pittsburgh, on top of no preseason love, ended up keeping this team short of the College Football Playoff a year ago, but this time around we should see nothing less than the Nittany Lions ranked in the top ten heading into the first week.

And then there are the Buckeyes. Always solid and always relevant come preseason rankings, Ohio State will enjoy one final year of quarterback J.T. Barrett, another Heisman hopeful, with eyes on another national title.

Related Story: Big Ten Football: 3 dark-horse candidates to win 2017 title

Of course, the Big Ten East is no cakewalk, with three teams last season barring just one loss (Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan) and this week nine matchup will be just one of three gamesbetween the three big hitters in that division. Don’t forget then whoever comes out of this gauntlet will have to face a tough Wisconsin or Nebraska team (assuming) in Indianapolis for the conference title game.

Penn State will be fresh off a home game against Michigan and the results from that game could make this matchup between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes that much bigger.

Week 10: LSU at Alabama

Honorable Mention:

• Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
• Houston at South Florida
• Clemson at NC State

No more Les Miles-Nick Saban rivalry during this game, but every year it seems like LSU and Alabama are a guaranteed College GameDay visit.

Last year, the Tide blanked the Tigers in a slugfest, scoring late twice to go up and stay up 10-0 to continue their perfect season. As previously mentioned for the Tigers, there were many question marks surrounding the team last year and they still managed to finish 8-4 on the year.

While Alabama just reloads, it is safe to assume LSU’s mini rebuilding year is out of the way and with consistency at the quarterback position and an explosive running back in Derrius Guice, they now have the offensive firepower to complement their elite defense.

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As always with these two teams and this intense rivalries, you can throw the records out the door and always expect a good old fashioned slugfest that will come down to the final possessions- but this year you won’t need to throw the records out because both teams have one thing on their mind: a national title.

One of these teams is going to get in the other’s way. Who will it be?

College GameDay has been in attendance for LSU-Alabama in five of the last six seasons. The Crimson Tide have won the last four with LSU’s lone victory in that time frame coming back in 2011 when the No. 1 ranked Tigers knocked off No. 2 Alabama by a score of 9-6 in overtime. It received a great deal of criticism for how low-scoring and “boring” of a game it was, despite featuring two of the best defenses in the entire country.

Both Alabama (1st) and LSU (3rd) are in the top three of most hosted College Gameday occurrences ever. They have a combined 64 appearances between the two of them, second most combined between fellow conference teams (Alabama/Florida: 75).

Week 11: Florida State at Clemson

Honorable Mention:

• USC at Colorado
• West Virginia at Kansas State
• Georgia at Auburn

And we’re back. Another College GameDay, another ACC game involving either Louisville, Florida State or Clemson. We expressed the importance of certain signature games and being that last year’s national champion came out of the ACC, there is a good chance that the winner of this conference in 2017 will be in great shape to take home the trophy.

We are aware that this would be in fact Florida State’s third College GameDay appearance of the year, as well as Clemson’s second and sometimes, that’s just the way it is. There were seven teams in 2016 that were a part of more than one Saturday special, and of those seven, four were featured in the event three times.

This will likely be the sixth straight year that the Tigers are a part of the show and third straight year they have received the honor more than once in a season. Despite the fact that it seems as though they are a part of every other telecast, Clemson has only been included 11 times since the show came out in 1987. It just goes to show that when you are good, the camera follows.

The Tigers knocked off the Seminoles last year in Tallahassee in a close one by a score of 37-34, making it two straight wins versus their division rivals. Last season was their first win in Tallahassee since 2006.

“I’m glad to finally walk into this room and be happy. It’s been a long time coming,” Coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN after the game last year, notching his first win at Florida State since taking over Clemson. “We had a couple of lulls, but when we needed to make plays we got them.”

The Nov. 11 showdown vs. Florida State will be the ACC finale for the Tigers before two non-conference games against The Citadel and South Carolina.

Week 12: Michigan at Wisconsin

Honorable Mention:

• UCLA at USC
• Utah at Washington
• Kansas State at Oklahoma State

The Badgers appeared in three College GameDay occurrences last year, going 1-2 with their lone victory coming in the very first program with a 16-14 victory over LSU. The other two instances were heartbreakers for the Badgers, losing in overtime to Ohio State at home and then again in the Big Ten championship, blowing a 28-3 (sound familiar?) lead against Penn State.

One thing for sure we can count on with Wisconsin and a College GameDay is a great game. Six out of the last games that have featured the Badgers have been decided by seven points or less.

The Badgers will welcome in the Michigan Wolverines on Senior Night, one of the crossover games in the conference. Last year, they were honored with the privilege of playing Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State — two of which were on the road — but out of those three teams, only Michigan returns on the schedule, this time at home.

Related Story: Five reasons Badgers will win national title in 2017

Wisconsin fell to Michigan in a nail biter in Ann Arbor last season, 14-7, holding the Wolverines to their lowest point total all year. The Wolverines were as close to a Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff berth as they could have gotten, but a tough loss at Ohio State to end the year made them the odd man out.

Prior to last year’s meeting with the Buckeyes, the Wolverines had not appeared in a College GameDay show since 2013. Now with Jim Harbaugh running the group, a show with stories on him could never be a bad thing.

Both the Badgers and Wolverines lost a lot of key players on defense, such as Jabrill Peppers (Michigan) and T.J. Watt (Wisconsin), but both bring back a lot of weapons on both side of the ball that poise them for successful years. They each have their own challenges on their side of the division, but they will to go through each other to get to the promised land.

The Badgers have just 14 wins all-time against the Wolverines, who have 50 victories in the series. Wisconsin has won three out of the last five, including three in a row in Madison.

Week 13: Alabama at Auburn

Honorable Mention:

• Ohio State at Michigan
• West Virginia at Oklahoma
• Washington State at Washington

Ah, yes, rivalry week. Nothing better. Except when you are trying to decide which game is best and most deserving to be featured on national television.

Ohio State and Michigan got the honors last season and did not disappoint, showcasing a controversial fourth down call that granted J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes a first down and another shot to win it in overtime, which they did.

This year, we could see Gameday heading back to the Iron Bowl. With Alabama being Alabama and Auburn being much improved from a year ago, another instant classic could be on the horizon and a trip to the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff on the line.

And we all remember what happened last time College GameDay went to Auburn for the Iron Bowl, right?

The Crimson Tide have won seven out of the last ten against the Tigers, with all but one of those victories coming in double digits, yet something tells us that this year could be different.

Alabama won the last College GameDay meeting between the two back in 2014 by a score of 55-44 in Tuscaloosa. They currently lead the all-time series 55-45.

Before last year’s championship loss to Clemson, the Crimson Tide had won their last eight College GameDay appearances.

Week 14: Conference Championship Week

For all but two teams, this concludes the final week of the regular season (if you are lucky enough to make it this far) and for three out of the last four years, College GameDay has headed to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game.

This decision actually has very little to do with the games itself, and while the Big Ten title games have proven to be well wroth watching in the past, the magnitude of the contest has only been a bonus behind the real reasoning behind it all.

Out of all five power conferences, there are really only three that can qualify to be hosting the Saturday ESPN show. The Pac-12 has normally had their championship game on the Friday before in order to create more viewership and buzz. Because of this, College GameDay won’t attend strictly because of their programming style and the fact that they like to keep it strictly Saturday mornings.

As for the Big 12, we all know the fiasco that has been surrounding them and that fact that they have not had a conference title game. Until that gets 100 percent solidified and a few years under their belt, it could become an option, but for the time being it’s probably overlooked.

The SEC, ACC and Big Ten championships are what is remaining and over the last decade, the ACC title game has never been attended by College GameDay. This could be due to the fact that a good chunk of the season’s shows are hosted by ACC team.

In three of the last four years, the Big Ten has been the site for College Gameday. While the SEC championship has seen it in recent history, being a 3:30 p.m. ET mid-afternoon game can have its drawbacks with the program. The Big Ten title has been historically at night, meaning there is more of a focus during the day on ESPN and its show(s).

As for this year, who knows what the criteria will be.

Week 15: Army vs. Navy

A tradition like any other, the only sure-fire College GameDay appearance every year happens in Week 15 when there is but one college football game: Army vs. Navy.

Last season, the Black Knights of Army stunned a talented and heavily-favored Navy squad, breaking a 14-game losing streak versus the Midshipmen and securing their first win in the long rivalry series since 2001.

This will be the 118th meeting between the two military schools. Navy currently holds the edge in the series 60-49, thanks in large part to their recent 13-year winning streak.

College GameDay has made an appearance for the Army-Navy game for the last three years now and ever since the game got moved until after the conference championships, it has received a much larger viewing audience.

Not only does the crew on ESPN preview the bowl games and playoffs after conclusion of the season, but an entire show dedicated to just one football game featuring the future military personnel of the United States is quite the special program and hopefully a tradition to come for many years.

Over the past several years, the show has been part of two postseason events — either a College Football Playoff semifinal or a New Year’s Six bowl, such as the Rose Bowl. The crew will then make their final appearance of the year at the national championship, making it a total of 17 programs throughout the entire season.

If you are lucky enough to be close to one of these events in a college town near you, make plans to get to it, because for some schools and programs it does not come around often.

Next: College football's top 50 breakout candidates for 2017

Keep an eye on their Twitter account (@CollegeGameDay) as destinations are normally announced there shortly after the Saturday football action has concluded.