Rece Davis didn’t try to hide it: he was watching Iowa-Michigan with College GameDay in the back of his mind.
On Sunday’s College GameDay Podcast, the ESPN host said he was pulling for the Hawkeyes because he believed their win would help set up a better show in Week 5. ESPN has already chosen Iowa City as the destination for the Week 5 edition of College GameDay in the 2026 college football season, and Iowa’s upset of Michigan played a role in making that trip happen.
“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 result pushed Iowa up to No. 14 in the AP Top 25, which means Saturday’s matchup in Iowa City will be a top-15 game. The Hawkeyes will host No. 5 Ohio State in a meeting with plenty of national attention already attached.
Davis’ admission also leaves a little room for the alternate scenario fans in Starkville can imagine. If Michigan had taken care of Iowa, Alabama vs.
Mississippi State would have been the highest-ranked matchup in the AP Top 25. Alabama sits at No. 7 and Mississippi State is No. 16, with both teams still unbeaten.
Even with that possibility, GameDay might have ended up in Iowa City anyway. The show’s first four stops of the 2026 season have all come from SEC campuses - LSU, Texas, Ole Miss and Tennessee - and that has drawn criticism from some fans and media members who believe ESPN leans too heavily toward the SEC.
This week, though, Davis and the crew will be in Big Ten country. And with Ohio State coming to town, there will be no shortage of conversation around the SEC either.
In Other News...
LSU Fans Will Recognize The Recruiting Path Behind Mississippi States New QB
Kamario Taylors path to Mississippi State looks familiar to anyone who watched Dak Prescotts rise in Starkville. Both quarterbacks arrived without the kind of national buzz that usually follows a SEC starter-in-waiting, and both ended up finding their way to Mississippi State after college recruiting took them on a route that was not exactly linear. For a program that has long valued development as much as pure pedigree, the comparison makes sense before Taylor has even had much time to settle in.
Prescott turned that under-the-radar arrival into a breakout 2014 season and eventually a career that carried him all the way to the NFL. Taylor is still at the point where the story is being written, but his emergence as the starting quarterback invites the same kind of conversation Mississippi State fans know well, especially when a familiar recruiting trail seems to be leading toward another opportunity to prove doubters wrong. [Read more 🡒]
Kamario Taylors Basketball Backstory Shows Why Mississippi State Fans Are So Intrigued
Before he ever became a quarterback prospect, Kamario Taylor was the kind of high school athlete who seemed to do a little bit of everything. He played football, basketball, baseball and track before eventually narrowing his focus to football, and that all-around background helps explain why Mississippi State fans have been so intrigued by him since he arrived in Starkville.
Jeff Lebby first crossed paths with Taylor on a basketball court, then nudged him toward football as the sport where his future belonged. Taylors basketball resume at the college level has been brief, with limited action in the 2021-22 season and no game appearances since, but the backstory still adds another layer to a player Bulldogs supporters are eager to watch develop. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Will Notice What Saban Is Saying Before Alabama
Nick Saban knows exactly what Alabama is walking into when it heads to Starkville, and he made clear this week that Mississippi State is never the kind of stop a team can treat lightly. He pointed to the cowbells, the setting and the challenge of playing in that environment, while also giving the Bulldogs credit for how theyve been competing with Kamario Taylor at quarterback.
Georgia fans listening closely will notice the bigger picture in Sabans comments, because Alabamas trip to Mississippi State comes before a much larger showdown on the calendar. For the Bulldogs, it is another sign that opponents are taking the current team seriously, and for everyone else it is a reminder that Starkville can still turn a routine week into a difficult one. [Read more 🡒]