ESPN’s College GameDay is headed back to Boise.
For the first time since 2010, the network’s flagship college football pregame show will broadcast from Boise State’s campus, setting up Saturday’s Pac-12 matchup between the Broncos and Oregon State. ESPN made the announcement Sunday morning.
The show will air from 7-10 a.m. ahead of the 4 p.m. kickoff, and the exact location will be revealed later in the week.
It’s a familiar pairing for College GameDay and Boise State. The show has been to Boise only once before, back in September 2010, when No.
3 Boise State beat No. 24 Oregon State 37-24.
This time, the stakes are different but still meaningful. Boise State enters at 8-1 overall and 5-0 in Pac-12 play, and a win would lock up hosting rights for the Pac-12 Championship. Oregon State, sitting at 5-4 and 3-2 in the conference, needs a victory to remain in the championship race.
The Broncos also give ESPN a clear storyline as the top Group of Six team in the College Football Playoff conversation. Boise State checked in at No. 25 in the first committee rankings last week and currently sits in the 12-team bracket as the No. 12 seed.
Oregon State’s recent slide nearly took the game out of College GameDay territory. The Beavers have dropped their last two, including a 42-21 loss to Texas State on Saturday night, which knocked them back in the standings and put the show’s Boise trip in jeopardy.
Still, Oregon State brings star power of its own. Quarterback Braden Atkinson leads the nation with 3,169 passing yards, and freshman wide receiver Jesse Legree has become a Heisman Trophy hopeful while pacing the country with 1,209 receiving yards.
Boise State has its own candidate in the mix, too. Junior running back Dylan Riley announced his Heisman candidacy Saturday night after the Broncos’ 64-38 win over Colorado State.
All of College GameDay’s main faces are expected in Boise, including Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban.
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Boise States win over Colorado State had plenty of football reasons to draw attention, but one of the stranger moments came away from the play itself. During the loss, a sideline altercation broke out involving Colorado State offensive lineman Toriyan Johnson and strength and conditioning coach Shelton Bynum, with video showing Bynum grabbing Johnsons jersey and shouting as Johnson answered back before others stepped in.
The incident added another layer of disorder to a rough afternoon for the Rams, and it did not go unnoticed after the game. Head coach Jim Mora addressed it in his postgame press conference, saying the program would handle the matter internally, leaving the episode as one more unresolved subplot from a game Boise State controlled on the field. [Read more 🡒]
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Boise States latest surge in the polls came on the heels of a 64-38 win over Colorado State, a result that pushed the Broncos up three spots to No. 17 in the AP Top 25. It is their highest ranking of the season, and it keeps them squarely in the national conversation as the calendar moves deeper into November.
The Broncos also climbed three spots to No. 18 in the USA Today coaches poll, while staying at No. 25 in the College Football Playoff committee rankings. For a team still trying to strengthen its postseason case, the gap between where Boise State sits in the human polls and where it stands with the committee is the part worth watching next. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Just Landed A Spotlight Game With Real Stakes
ESPNs College GameDay is headed to Boise this weekend, putting a national spotlight on a Pac-12 matchup that already had plenty of weight for Boise State. The Broncos enter Saturday nights game against Oregon State ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 and sitting at 8-1, a position that has turned this into more than just a late-season conference game. College GameDay will air from Boise starting at 9 a.m. ET, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. ET.
For Boise State, the attention is part reward, part pressure. Oregon State arrives with a passing game that has been driven by Braden Atkinson and Jesse Legree, giving the Broncos a real test in front of a crowd that will have all day to build toward the matchup. With the national crew in town and the stakes rising, this one feels like the sort of November game that can shape how the rest of the season is remembered. [Read more 🡒]