College football fans are going absolutely ballistic over ESPN's College Gameday's decision to travel to Athens, Georgia for the highly anticipated Tennessee Volunteers versus the Georgia Bulldogs matchup. Did ESPN make the right choice? The legions of college football fans surely don't think so.
Had a chance to go to SMU for the first time. And you pick Georgia for the 750th
— Jared (@jaredowens_11) November 10, 2024
The Bulldogs are coming off of its second in-conference and overall loss of the 2024 season after having suffered a beatdown to the hands of Ole Miss last weekend. Georgia star quarterbackCarson Beck and the Bulldogs offense struggled immensely against the Rebels up front. Beck was sacked five times and the offense could only muster 59 total yards on the ground. As Kirby Smart's team prepares for Tennessee, its safe to say the Bulldogs College Football Playoff and SEC title hopes will fall on this game.
As for SMU, the Mustangs will do battle against Boston College at home in Dallas. The Mustangs are the only undefeated team in ACC conference play at 5-0 thus far. Sure, Boston College is 5-4 overall and isn't exactly an exciting team, but perhaps fans just want a change a secenary for one of ESPN's top-rated television programs.
In fact, the popular pre-game show has visited an SEC program six-times this season, which will soon be seven this upcoming weekend.
Remember when College Gameday didn’t shill for the SEC? https://t.co/FnTUwg1wwN pic.twitter.com/nUqYfoYhPa
— The Burger Pauper (@OmarRashonBorja) November 10, 2024
In all fairness, "shill" is a strong word to use. However, the SEC is widely recognized as the premier conference in all of college football. In fact, ABC has been garnering record breaking viewership since acquiring exclusive rights to broadcast SEC games prior to the season.
ESPN executives realize that the South Eastern Conference is home to promiment programs such as LSU, Georgia, and Alabama, whom are responsible for being four out of the last five national champions, respectively.
FCS #4 UC Davis hosting #2 Montana State might’ve been more interesting variety. https://t.co/2SyW3mI4YJ
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 10, 2024
The week 12 slate isn't exactly oozing with intriguing matchups. Texas will face a 5-4 Arkansas team at the noon slot this weekend. The ACC's premier matchup is between Clemson and a Pittsburgh team that fell out of the AP Top-25 rankings after losing to four-loss Virginia. Furthermore, a matchup between Ohio State and a 4-5 Northwestern team surely won't bring much interest in the slighest.
However, College Gameday does visit unlikely schools such as when it visited Division III school Williams in 2007 when they faced Amherst. The visit to Williamstown was the first-ever DIII visit for College Gameday. Moreover, Gameday visited North Dakota State back in 2013 for the first time ever.
ESPN's popular pregame show has a track record of going outside of just SEC and Big Ten schools.
As for the matchup between FCS's UC Davis against Montana State, the game is surely going to be an intriguing one. First and foremost, Montana State is 10-0 (6-0 in Big Sky) for the first time in 127 years after having defeated Sacramento State 49-7 last weekend. Secondly, UC Davis is currently 9-1 overall, but is also undefeated in Big Sky play (6-0) thus far. The winner of this matchup will have firm control of the conference title.
Yes, the game between the Bobcats and the Aggies is interesting, but its fair to say its not a bigger matchup than the Bulldogs going against the Volunteers in a battle of SEC heavyweights.
All in all, College Gameday will continue to be perhaps one of the most popular and exciting pregame shows in all of television, despite the location.