'College GameDay' won't be returning to Oklahoma-Michigan in 2026

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When the Oklahoma Sooners hosted the Michigan Wolverines in 2025, the matchup got all of the special treatment you could ask for. ESPN’s “College GameDay” came to Norman, ABC’s lead broadcast team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Holly Rowe descended upon Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and a primetime kickoff of 6:30 p.m. CT made for a visually spectacular Week 2 September Saturday night on Owen Field.

After OU beat Michigan 24-13 in last year’s SEC-versus-Big Ten non-conference showdown, the rematch will look a bit different. After a kickoff time (11:00 a.m. CT) and a broadcast network (FOX) were announced on Monday, more news that affects the game came out on Tuesday.

ESPN announced that “College GameDay” will not be coming to Ann Arbor and Michigan Stadium for the 2026 rematch between the Sooners and Wolverines. Instead, they’ll head to Austin for the matchup between Ohio State and Texas, which will also kick off in primetime on ABC on September 12th.

Highlighting the Buckeyes and the Longhorns is an obvious choice for the network, for obvious reasons. Despite the 2025 matchup being broadcast on FOX, “GameDay” went to Columbus for the matchup last season for the legendary Lee Corso’s final show, as that game was a matchup of top five teams, and this year’s should be also.

However, that game was in Week 1 last year, and its move to Week 2 in 2026, combined with FOX already owning OU-Michigan (Big Ten home game), and ESPN already owning Ohio State-Texas (SEC home game), means that the Sooners and Wolverines won’t get the same spotlight that they had last year.

Instead, the game will get the “Big Noon Kickoff” treatment, FOX’s answer to “GameDay”, and the broadcast team of Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt, and Jenny Taft will likely be at the Big House to call the game. This season will be an inverse of what happened in 2025, when Texas and Ohio State got the early kickoff on FOX and “Big Noon”, only now with the games taking place on the same day, the Buckeyes and Longhorns will double dip on “GameDay”, while also getting the ABC primetime kickoff in 2026, while it’s OU and Michigan’s turn to kickoff early on FOX.

Both games should be absolutely massive towards telling the story of the 2026 college football season, as four of the sport’s top 10 brands square off in huge non-conference games. Oklahoma-Michigan will be just as important in 2026 as it was in 2025, even if it won’t get the “College GameDay” spotlight this time around.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma and Michigan won’t get the ‘College GameDay’ treatment in ’26

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