'College GameDay' Sets Locations For First 3 Shows Of 2026 Season

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Usually ESPN’s College GameDay keeps the week-by-week destination a surprise, but ahead of the 2026 season, the show is giving us the host venue for nearly the entire month.

On Friday, GameDay announced that it will be in Baton Rouge for Week 1 – its 500th show – followed by Austin in Week 2 and then Oxford, Mississippi in Week 3. The Week 1 game will be for LSU vs. Clemson. Week 2 will be Texas vs. Ohio State. And Week 3 will be Ole Miss vs. LSU in a battle of Lane Kiffin’s current and former team.

“The first three weeks of the season are officially set: GameDay will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for its 500th show on the road in Week 1, followed by Austin, Texas, in Week 2 and Oxford, Miss., in Week 3 as Lane Kiffin makes his highly anticipated return to Ole Miss as head coach of LSU. For the first time since 2002, College GameDay’s first three shows will originate from the campuses of three different preseason AP Top 15 teams: LSU (11th), Texas (5th) and Ole Miss (9th). Additional details surrounding the shows will be announced in the weeks ahead,” GameDay announced.

McAfee At Front & Center?

Usually fans complain about GameDay not going to some of the less-traveled locations in college football, but this time people seemed to take issue with Pat McAfee being at the front of the GameDay snapshot. Many feel that someone with more experience on the show like Kirk Herbstreit or Rece Davis should be at the center rather than him.

“Kirk needs to be in the middle, not Pat lol,” one user on X remarked.

“Putting McAfee in front instead of Davis or Herbstreit is an affront to this already decaying show,” wrote another.

“Kirk not even being the 2nd or 3rd person on the promo for a show he and Lee Corso built is insane,” a third wrote.

“Putting Pat front and center is certainly a choice…not Rece, not Coach, not Kirk…no let’s choose Pat…”

This will unfortunately be the first full season of GameDay without a single appearance from the legendary Lee Corso, who retired from the show after Week 1 of last season.

After three decades of headgear selections, we won’t be getting any of those in 2026 anymore.

It’s the start of a new era for College GameDay. Whether or not it’s a good era remains to be seen.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Aug 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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