Provo is about to get the full national spotlight when No. 8 BYU hosts No.
2 Notre Dame on Saturday, and ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be right there with it. The show’s broadcast spot is now locked in: the lawn at Heritage Halls on the east side of BYU’s campus.
That’s a noticeable shift from the usual setup. In the past, the west parking lot at LaVell Edwards Stadium has been the familiar home for these pregame shows, with both Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” and “GameDay” using that space before. Heritage Halls should give this one a more classic campus feel.
The bigger mystery now is the guest picker.
There’s no shortage of BYU-connected names who could fit the bill, and a few stand out more than others. Rudy Ruettiger is one of them.
Yes, that Rudy, the same one from “Rudy.” He’s long been tied to Notre Dame, but there’s another layer here: he converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2017 and has said he’s been impressed with what BYU coach Kalani Sitake has done with the Cougars.
Steve Young would also make plenty of sense. He’s a Cougar legend and a former ESPN analyst, which makes him feel like an easy fit on paper. The question is whether any lingering tension remains after ESPN laid him off in 2023.
Jimmer Fredette is another obvious name. It has been 15 years since Jimmermania rolled through the country, and he still brings the kind of recognition that would play well on a stage like this.
Then there’s Ken Jennings, the “Jeopardy!” star who double-majored at BYU before becoming a household name.
Disney owns ESPN and ABC, and it’s also one of the game show’s partners. That alone makes Jennings an interesting possibility, and there’s the added novelty of seeing him miss a few answers for once - or maybe nail every pick.
Brandon Sanderson could be a more offbeat option. Jennings’ former BYU roommate is one of the best-selling authors in Utah, and he might pull in a different kind of crowd. Still, maybe not all that different a crowd - San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is a fan.
Rylee Arnold would bring a different kind of buzz. The Provo native is a ballroom pro on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and she’s dating BYU tight end Walker Lyons.
And Ryan Smith is always a name to keep in the mix. The owner of the Jazz and Mammoth has been a frequent voice in the national conversation and a regular guest on “The Pat McAfee Show,” so a stop on “GameDay” would fit right into that pattern.
Other possibilities are out there too: Andy Reid, Fred Warner, Taysom Hill, Danny Ainge. The list stretches pretty far.
Meanwhile, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier has his own Notre Dame angle. At one point, he might have felt some pull toward the Irish - especially since his grandfather is a devoted Notre Dame fan.
Bachmeier grew up Catholic and said, “My grandpa is actually a diehard Notre Dame fan,” before making his allegiance clear: “But I’m a Coog. … Go blue, let’s go.”
His fandom didn’t start there, either. He said, “I was kind of a Boise State fan because I played NCAA and I’d always set the field to the blue field.”
Then his older brother Hank went to Boise State, which only added to that stretch of fandom. Notre Dame recruited him, too, but the family tie to the Irish didn’t change his mind. For BYU, that was the right outcome.
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