Provo is about to become the center of college football for a day, and the spotlight is already taking shape.
When No. 8 BYU hosts No.
2 Notre Dame on Saturday, ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be on campus too. The show’s setup is now set: it will broadcast from the lawn at Heritage Halls on the east side of BYU’s campus.
That’s a notable shift from the usual scene. In past appearances, the pregame shows from both Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” and “GameDay” have gone up in the west parking lot of LaVell Edwards Stadium. Heritage Halls should give the broadcast a more classic college-campus feel.
The one big piece still hanging out there is the guest picker.
BYU’s connections run deep enough that ESPN has plenty of directions it could go. A few names stand out.
Rudy Ruettiger is one possibility. Yes, that Rudy - the one from “Rudy” and, more importantly in this case, a Notre Dame figure.
But Ruettiger also has a Latter-day Saint connection. 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 bring a cleaner BYU tie. He’s a Cougar legend and a former ESPN analyst, which makes him feel like the sort of pick that fits the show naturally. The question is whether there’s any lingering tension after ESPN laid him off in 2023.
Jimmer Fredette is another obvious name. It has been 15 years since Jimmermania took over, but his pull is still real.
Then there’s Ken Jennings, the former BYU double-major who became a “Jeopardy!” star and now hosts the show.
Since Disney owns ESPN and ABC, and is one of the game show’s partners, Jennings would come with a built-in network connection. And there’s also the simple entertainment factor of watching a trivia king try to nail football picks.
A different kind of choice would be Brandon Sanderson, Jennings’ former BYU roommate and the best-selling Utah author. He might draw a different crowd than the usual “GameDay” audience. Then again, maybe not by much - after all, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is a big fan of Sanderson.
Rylee Arnold is another name in the mix. The Provo native is a ballroom pro on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and she’s dating BYU tight end Walker Lyons.
Ryan Smith would also fit the national-stage feel. The owner of the Jazz and Mammoth is a regular on “The Pat McAfee Show,” and he has shown plenty of comfort in front of a spotlight while pushing his vision for Utah.
And the list doesn’t stop there. Andy Reid, Fred Warner, Taysom Hill and Danny Ainge are among the other possibilities.
The moment on campus will come with another small storyline attached to BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who said there was at least a chance his family allegiance could have leaned the other way.
At one point, he said, his grandfather - a Notre Dame diehard - might have preferred seeing him in blue and gold this weekend.
“My grandpa is actually a diehard Notre Dame fan,” said Bachmeier, who grew up Catholic. “But I’m a Coog. … Go blue, let’s go.”
That wasn’t always the shade of blue he preferred, though.
“I was kind of a Boise State fan because I played NCAA and I’d always set the field to the blue field.”
His older brother Hank later went to Boise State, which only reinforced that lean for a while. Bachmeier also said Notre Dame recruited him, but in the end, his grandfather’s Irish loyalty didn’t move him off BYU.
For the Cougars, that was the outcome that mattered.
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Utah, meanwhile, arrives unbeaten in conference play and with the kind of balance that has made it one of the tougher teams to slow down. Devon Dampier is steering the offense, and the Utes have also leaned on the ground game to keep defenses honest, which leaves Colorado needing a clean performance at home if it wants to turn the week into something more than just another difficult outing. [Read more 🡒]