COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State will be featured on ESPN's College GameDay for the 20th time on Saturday in Columbus — the most of any city.

What You Need To Know

  • ESPN's College GameDay is broadcasting live in Columbus for the Ohio State-Michigan State game

  • The three-hour college football pregame show started at 9 a.m. Saturday outside St. John Arena

  • The show will move inside Ohio Stadium for the final hour

  • This is the 20th time Ohio State will host College GameDay — the most of any city

The three-hour college football pregame show, now in its 35th season, will showcase the Ohio State vs. Michigan State game in Columbus, starting at 9 a.m. outside St. John Arena (in the horseshoe area adjacent to Woody Hayes Drive) for the first two hours before moving inside Ohio Stadium for the final hour, said ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer.

 

The No. 4 Buckeyes and No. 7 Spartans game begins at noon, a top 10 battle with Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff implications.

 

Rece Davis hosts the show with analysts Lee Corso, former Buckeyes captain and quarterback Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack, research producer and sports betting analyst Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, and reporters Jen Lada and Gene Wojciechowski.

Herbstreit is a former Ohio State quarterback who grew up in Centerville, less than an hour from Cincinnati.

His father, Jim, a former player and captain at Ohio State (1958-60) went on to serve as an assistant coach (1960-61 — national champs in 1961) under the legendary Woody Hayes and also coached with Bo Schembechler at Miami (Ohio), according to his bio on ESPN.

 

The show recently aired live from the University of Cincinnati when the No. 2 Bearcats took on Tulsa for its homecoming game earlier this month.

GameDay’s last trip to Columbus was November 2019, when the Buckeyes played Penn State.

Ohio State leads all schools with 51 appearances all-time on GameDay, according to Hofheimer.

College GameDay — Ohio State stats

  • This is GameDay’s 20th visit to Columbus – most of any city. The Buckeyes are 14-5 at home with GameDay in town
  • GameDay is originating from the Michigan State-Ohio State game for the fifth time. The underdog has won each of the previous four, including 2015 when the Spartans won in Columbus as a 14-point underdog.
  • Corso is 3-10 when picking the Buckeyes. Picking against Ohio State, he’s 6-11 and has lost each of the last five times he’s picked against OSU.
  • The underdog has won the last three Power Five games from which GameDay has originated.
  • This is the ninth time GameDay has been to the site of a Top 8 matchup with a spread greater than 14 points. The only underdog to win outright was Tennessee over Florida in 2001. Six of the previous eight were decided by at least 19 points and four were decided by at least 25 points.

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