Rece Davis didn’t hide it: he was pulling for Iowa on Saturday, and not just because of the matchup on the field. He had College GameDay in mind.
ESPN is heading to Iowa City for Week 5 of the 2026 college football season, and Iowa’s win over Michigan helped clear the path. On Sunday’s edition of the College GameDay Podcast, Davis said he was rooting for the Hawkeyes with the show’s next stop in the back of his mind.
“I didn’t want Iowa to beat Michigan because I wanted Michigan to lose, or because I’m some big Iowa fan,” Davis said, per Awful Announcing.
“I root for the show, and it was going to be really, really good for the show if Iowa won on Saturday. They did. And now, a big showdown with Ohio State coming up next week.”
That win bumped Iowa to No. 14 in the AP Top 25, setting up a top-15 clash when the Hawkeyes host No. 5 Ohio State on Saturday.
Davis’ comments also leave plenty of room for the “what if” conversation in Starkville. If Michigan had handled Iowa, Alabama vs.
Mississippi State would have been the highest-ranked game in the AP Top 25. Alabama is No. 7 and Mississippi State sits at No. 16, with both teams unbeaten.
Even so, GameDay might have landed on Iowa City anyway. The first four shows of the 2026 season all came from SEC campuses - LSU, Texas, Ole Miss and Tennessee - and that stretch drew criticism from fans and media members who felt ESPN was leaning too hard toward the conference.
This week, Davis and the crew are headed into Big Ten country. The SEC chatter, though, isn’t going away anytime soon.
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For the Bulldogs, the challenge is less about one isolated matchup than about surviving the whole structure of Alabamas offense. Lebby pointed to the need to get pressure on Keelon Russell and tackle more cleanly if Mississippi State wants any chance of slowing down a group of receivers that can stretch a defense in a hurry. It is the kind of week where the margin for error is thin, and the Bulldogs know the Crimson Tide will punish anything sloppy. [Read more 🡒]
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The SEC made a strong showing in the top 10, with four league players included, led by Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons and Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell near the top. For Mississippi State, Taylors place on that list adds another layer to a game already packed with intrigue, since the Bulldogs are about to see Russell and Alabama on the same field this weekend. [Read more 🡒]