College GameDay’s surprise pick proves Pitt’s moment has finally arrived

When you look at the schedule before every College Football season, there are clear picks everyone expects to be the location for College GameDay. Everyone often looks to the top ranked teams or the biggest rivalry games as they'd seemingly make the most sense. On paper before the season, everyone would've looked to Texas A&M hosting South Carolina, Alabama hosting Oklahoma, Ole Miss hosting Florida, or Georgia hosting Texas as the potential picks for College GameDay.

Instead, College GameDay made the surprising pick for its Week 12 site as the show will travel to Pittsburgh as the Pitt Panthers host Notre Dame.

College GameDay bringing the show to Pittsburgh marks the first time that GameDay has been in Pittsburgh since the 2005 matchup between Notre Dame and Pitt. The Panthers will be hoping for better luck this time around as Notre Dame beat Pitt 42-21 in the game. Lee Corso's headgear pick however, favored the Panthers.

The Pittsburgh Panthers aren't the flashiest team in the Country, but it seems as if Pat Narduzzi always has his team in the mix when November rolls around. This year, the Panthers will enter the game ranked in the Top 25 with an outside chance at the College Football Playoff. Losing this game won't end the Panthers playoff hopes, but it would launch them up the rankings.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, needs to keep on winning as suffering a 3rd loss would end their hopes of making a return trip to the College Football Playoff. The Fighting Irish were ranked 10th in the initial Playoff rankings, meaning they're in the projected Playoff field, but every game down the stretch will be important.

The Panthers will spend the week in the spotlight, and picking up a win would be incredible for their program's trajectory.