Is ESPN, College Gameday Aiding In The Erasure of Group of Six Schools?
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It has been 3,597 days since ESPN’s College Gameday hosted their Saturday morning show from a MAC school. It has been even longer since they did so on a Mountain West campus.
The show had a prime opportunity to end one of those streaks, with the new PAC-12’s Boise State heading to Kalamazoo to take on the MAC’s Western Michigan Broncos.
A very important matchup in terms of College Football Playoff implications, with both teams vying to be the best Group of Six team. A non-conference win like this could be the difference maker.
Instead, College Gameday will be 550 miles south, attending Texas at Tennessee in Knoxville.
While it’s no shocker that the show is showcasing a No. 1 vs. No. 14 matchup, it may be another sign of how the powers of the college football world are slowly boxing out the Group of Six.
How The Times Change
It wasn’t too long ago where College Gameday was traveling all over the country. 2022’s trip to Montana to cover FCS’s Montana vs. Montana State, a stop at Appalachian State for App State vs Troy that same year, along with a 2023 visit to James Madison.
But once the 2024 season arrived, these unique visits seemed to vanish.
Since the start of the 2024 season, here are the conferences ESPN has visited:
(Not including bowl games or postseason shows)
2024:
Week 1: SEC
Week 2: Big Ten
Week 3: SEC
Week 4: SEC
Week 5: SEC
Week 6: ACC
Week 7: Big Ten
Week 8: SEC
Week 9: Big Ten
Week 10: Big Ten
Week 11: SEC
Week 12: SEC
Week 13: Big Ten
Week 14: SEC
2025:
Week 1: Big Ten
Week 2: SEC
Week 3: SEC
Week 4: ACC (Florida vs. Miami)
Week 5: Big Ten
Week 6: SEC
Week 7: Big Ten
Week 8: SEC
Week 9: SEC
Week 10: Big 12
Week 11: Big 12
Week 12: ACC (Pitt vs. Notre Dame)
Week 13: Big Ten
Week 14: Big Ten
2026:
Week 1: SEC
Week 2: SEC
Week 3: SEC
Week 4: SEC
1,042 days since Gameday has attended any Group of Six school, with only five of the past 32 stops being outside of the SEC or Big Ten.
What happened in 2024 to cause this shift? A deal with the devil.
The College Football Playoff and ESPN agreed to a six-year, $7.8 billion contract in March 2024, making the network the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season.
2024 also happened to be the first year of the expanded playoffs. More playoff entries equals more playoff games on their network.
With a weekly three-hour show on the same network that carries said playoff games, it feels as if College Gameday has turned from a showcase of everything college football to a platform for the network to try and manufacture the best matchups and games for their benefit.
Why would they go to a G6 campus and promote a game, team and program that wouldn’t make them as much money?
Hiding in Plain Sight
If you need any other evidence of Group of Six erasure, look no further than at the CFP’s latest metric.
According to Heather Dinich of ESPN, The College Football Playoff committee will now consider a strength-of-conference metric in its selection process.
“The new metric will help determine the strength of each conference based on the schedule strength of each team in its league.” the report says.
ESPN College Gameday host Kirk Herbstreit talked about the matter on last week’s show, days before the conference metric report was announced.
“The reality is, I think the CFP has to come up with what we are all saying: this is for the health of the sport. We have to have these Big Ten, SEC matchups and not have a penalty that puts you in the backrow now, working your way back because there’s been a narrative created because you lost this game.”
In simpler terms: We are going to make sure the SEC and Big Ten can make the playoff, even if they lose games.
Fans were quick to call out ESPN and Co.
“ESPN is manipulating the whole thing – it’s all so nauseating.” one fan said on X.
“Translation: we are going to cram as many 3 loss SEC teams as we can into the playoffs” another posted.
So, What Now?
While ESPN and the SEC battle with FOX and the Big Ten, it leaves the authentic football lovers.
The fans that want to watch Boise State/Western Michigan instead of any SEC matchup. The fans that watch MAC-tion on weekdays. The fans that stay up late for Mountain West and PAC-12 after dark. The “sickos”.
“The networks have picked their sides. Fox goes to B1G games. ESPN goes to SEC games,” Nathan Carroll of 247 Sports posted. “Perfect opportunity for a third network to be what Gameday once was, and celebrate EVERY college atmosphere.”
The CFP has their G6 spot. Instead of it being celebrated and acknowledged, it is being treated like a blemish on the sport. What company, network or show can bring back a Saturday showcase that truly displays a love for the sport, rather than protecting their own stock?
Until the magical show appears, it looks like I’ll spend my Saturday mornings running errands before kickoff.
Your Turn: What do you think of the current state of College Gameday and kickoff shows?
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