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ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot Heads to Rocky Top for Week 3 SEC Showdown


  • College football’s premier pregame show makes its 12th visit to Knoxville, Tenn., ahead of the Vols’ matchup with Georgia
  • Special on-site guests: Lady Vols great Candace Parker joins as guest picker, UT head coach Josh Heupel joins live on set and Russell Dickerson performs his hit single

ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot heads to Knoxville, Tenn., ahead of the Week 3 showdown between SEC foes, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 6 Georgia. This will be the 12th time the Vols have hosted GameDay, and the first visit since 2022. The premier pregame show will be live from Ayres Hall Lawn at the University of Tennessee from 9 a.m. – noon ET on ESPN, ESPNU and Disney+.

The Vols are 5-6 in the previous 11 times they’ve hosted the show and have won three straight, including the thrilling win over then-No. 3 Alabama during GameDay’s last trip to Knoxville (Oct. 15, 2022). Saturday’s show will mark Georgia’s 40th all-time appearance while also winning their last three games.

Rece Davis is at the helm for his 11th season, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick SabanCollege football insider Pete Thamel, college football betting analyst ‘Stanford Steve’ Coughlin and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the GameDay cast for the 2025 college football season.

For onsite information, please visit College GameDay’s Hub HERE.

Following GameDay, Herbstreit will join Chris Fowler and Holly Rowe as part of ESPN’s lead game team to call the top 15 conference clash on ABC for the 3:30 p.m. kick.

College GameDay continued its strong start to the season delivering its second most-watched regular season episode on record with the Week 2 show from Oklahoma. The top college football pregame program averaged 2.6 million viewers – a 22% increase over 2024’s Week 2 show, and brought in 3.3 million viewers in the final hour with a peak of 3.7 million viewers.

Show Highlights & Guests

  • Tennessee’s head coach Josh Heupel will join GameDay live on-site ahead of the SEC showdown while Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer will have a live talk-back with the crew from the field in Tuscaloosa before the Tide host Wisconsin (noon, ABC). Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King will join the show during his pregame warmups before the Yellow Jackets host No. 12 Clemson at noon (ESPN).
  • Country singer and songwriter Russell Dickerson will perform his hit single “Happen to Me” from the Ayres Hall Lawn during Saturday’s show.
  • Coach’s Film Room – Nick Saban, the seven-time National Champion head coach and defensive genius, takes fans inside his film room to share the secrets to cornerback technique.
  • Guest picker – Legendary Lady Vol, two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker joins the show as the Week 3 celebrity guest picker. During her time at Tennessee, Parker led UT to two NCAA championships and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in both of those title games. During her collegiate career, she earned Naismith College Player of the Year honors as a junior, the AP Women’s College Basketball Player of the Year twice and was a two-time John R. Wooden Award winner, amongst other accolades.
  • Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest – Back for its third season, the fan-favorite Pat McAfee’s Kicking Contest will offer an exclusive contest during the live show. Fans who arrive early will have a chance to be chosen from the ‘pit’ onsite with the opportunity to attempt a 33-yard field goal. McAfee has given out more than $2,000,000 of his own money in prizes and charity donations across his time on the show. Full details, including official rules, can be found here.

Additional guests will be announced ahead of Saturday’s show on ESPN PR’s Twitter and College GameDay’s Twitter.

Features:

  • A Special Education – When Special Education Teacher Josh Holman from Chatham, Ill., decorated his classroom to show off his passion for college football, he hoped it might inspire his students to be proud of their own interests. He never expected it to be seen and appreciated by college football fans across the country and help him, his wife Sarah and their family navigate a difficult year. Jen Lada
  • Rocky Road – It wasn’t long ago that Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar was enrolled at City College of San Francisco. Ninety-minute commutes to practice each day started taking a toll, so much so that he nearly walked away from football to become a fireman. But his journey continued from Diablo Valley College to Appalachian State and back home to UCLA before sending him to good ol’ Rocky Top where he will make his SEC debut against Georgia on Saturday. Marty Smith
  • Georgia V. Tennessee – Tennessee and Georgia is not the SEC‘s longest, oldest or most traditional rivalry. But a rivalry it is. It’s Uga versus Smokey. Vince Dooley versus General Neyland. Herschel Walker or Peyton Manning. And there’s only one way to settle this dog-gone SEC showdown. Putting paw to leather for this border state tail…of the tape. Ryan McGee

ESPN’s Expansive Digital Coverage
Back for their fourth season together, Christine WilliamsonHarry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr., return for ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay Presented by Dr Pepper. The trio heads to Knoxville with fun, fresh insights into the Week 3 slate joined by ‘Stanford Steve’ and Jess Sims will talk about Knoxville’s famous steamed sandwiches during this week’s ‘Get More GameDay’ segment. The trio will break down all 11 ranked SEC teams and sort them into tiers from Rocky Top Contenders down to the Paper Tigers.

The show is available across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App at 8:20 a.m. weekly.

All of ESPN. All in One Place.
ESPN offers its full suite of networks and services directly to fans within the ESPN App. Designed to give fans more choice, flexibility and access to all of ESPN, the ESPN App provides a unique viewing experience that includes integrated game stats, multiview options, a synchronized two-screen feature, a vertical video feature called Verts and a personalized SportsCenter For You, as well as ESPN BET information, ESPN Fantasy sports, commerce, and more. These new features are available to all fans who watch on the ESPN App on mobile and connected TV devices, whether they subscribe directly or through a traditional pay TV package. Bundling options available for fans include a limited time offer for the ESPN DTC Unlimited plan with Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99/month for the first 12 months. For more visit stream.espn.com.

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