Peyton Manning is the name hanging over ESPN’s guest picker decision for College GameDay’s trip to Knoxville, but the former Tennessee quarterback already made his lean pretty clear.
With No. 1 Texas set to visit Tennessee on Sept.
26, GameDay is headed to Ayres Hall before the noon ET kickoff on ABC. That puts Arch Manning, Peyton’s nephew and Texas’ starting quarterback, right in the middle of the weekend’s biggest storyline.
ESPN still hasn’t announced who will serve as guest picker.
Peyton, though, addressed the family angle back in June at the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana, and he didn’t leave much room for debate.
"Look, I love my university and alma mater and pull for them unconditionally, but nothing's more important to me than my family," Peyton said. "And when you have a nephew playing, I pull very hard for him every single Saturday. So that's pretty much a no-brainer that you're pulling for your nephew to play well."
He even told a story from camp about how he sees the choice.
"One of the kids was asking me earlier who I was going to go for," he said. "I said, 'Who do you think?'
and he said that he would go for his school over his relative. I went, 'Well, you and I are different.
You and I are wired differently.'"
That family thread runs through the Manning story. Peyton’s father, Archie Manning, dealt with the same kind of split back in the 1990s. Archie starred at Ole Miss, and Peyton’s Tennessee teams beat the Rebels 41-3 in Memphis in 1996 and 31-17 in Knoxville in 1997.
Peyton has also already had a turn in the GameDay chair. He was the guest picker in October 2022, when Tennessee beat Alabama 52-49 in Knoxville. On top of that, he remains connected to ESPN through his role as host of the ManningCast on Monday Night Football.
Even so, not everyone around Knoxville expects him to show up in that spot this week. Knoxville reporter Cora Hall wrote that the show might be the last place he’d go this week, and another local writer expects the Manning family to stay out of the spotlight.
Texas actor Glen Powell, who served as guest picker for the Week 2 show in Austin, said on the GameDay set that he’s going to the game with Peyton.
ESPN has leaned on Tennessee ties for its recent Knoxville picks. WWE star Bianca Belair was the guest picker before the 2022 Florida game, and Lady Vols great Candace Parker made the pick before last season’s 44-41 overtime loss to Georgia.
Other familiar Knoxville names have also been part of the show over the years. Country singers Morgan Wallen and Kelsea Ballerini both grew up in the area.
Comedian Leanne Morgan, a Tennessee graduate, recently won an Emmy for her Netflix show "Leanne." Country star Kenny Chesney was the guest picker at Tennessee in 2012.
GameDay airs from 9 a.m. to noon ET, with the final hour inside Neyland Stadium. Tennessee is 4-8 in its 12 previous GameDay appearances in Knoxville.
In Other News...
Texas Coach Just Added More Fuel To Neyland Before Tennessee Showdown
Steve Sarkisian did the Volunteers a favor without meaning to, giving Neyland Stadium another shot of energy before Texas comes to Knoxville. The Longhorns coach called it the loudest stadium in the country ahead of the matchup, and that kind of praise only adds to the atmosphere around a game already carrying plenty of weight, with No. 1 Texas visiting No. 14 Tennessee in the annual Checker Neyland showcase.
The setting figures to be huge even by Tennessee standards, with more than 100,000 seats packed into a noon ET kickoff on ABC and a College GameDay spotlight attached. For the Vols, it is the kind of moment that can turn a September game into a full-scale event, and Sarkisian's comments only sharpen the sense that Texas knows exactly what it is walking into. [Read more 🡒]
Peyton Manning Just Gave Vols Fans A Brutal Dilemma
Peyton Manning has always been one of Tennessees most beloved figures, and he made it clear this week that his affection for his alma mater has not changed. Even so, when the Vols meet Texas in a high-stakes SEC matchup, Manning said his family tie pulls him in another direction, since his nephew Arch is on the other sideline. It is the kind of rooting interest that feels impossible for Tennessee fans to hear from one of their own, even with the loyalty to Knoxville still intact.
The game carries plenty of weight on its own, with both teams undefeated and ranked inside the Top 15, but Mannings stance adds another layer to the buildup. It also complicates the usual pregame pageantry around College GameDay, where Manning would have been an obvious draw as the guest picker. Instead, his allegiance to family appears to leave that spot out of play, turning a marquee Saturday into a small but painful reminder of how messy college football can get when bloodlines and school pride collide. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Fans Have A New College GameDay Guest Picker Tease
A familiar Tennessee buzz has started building around this weeks College GameDay show, and it has a local twist that Vols fans know well. Morgan Wallen, the Knoxville-born country singer, has emerged as a rumored guest picker for the pregame hit ahead of Tennessees matchup with Texas, giving the buildup around the game a little extra star power.
The speculation picked up after a Tennessee vs. Texas T-shirt dated for the game appeared on Wallens website, which naturally sent fans hunting for clues. ESPN has not made an official announcement yet, and the list of possible names still includes Candace Parker, Leanne Morgan and Peyton Manning, so the reveal is still very much part of the storyline heading into Saturday. [Read more 🡒]