It is not college football season until the crew of ESPN College GameDay go on the record with their pregame picks for the biggest games of the weekend. And on Saturday morning, in the moments leading up to the start of Penn State’s season in Morgantown, West Virginia, there was a split decision on the outcome of the Penn State-West Virginia game.
Desmond Howard opened things up by picking West Virginia on its home field. New addition to the GameDay crew this year, and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, followed in choosing the Mountaineers, much to the delight of the next GameDay panelist to cast a prediction.
Pat McAfee, who is well known for his allegiance to his alma mater of West Virginia, led the Texas A&M crowd in a rendition of Country Roads while picking West Virginia.
Then, perhaps, some sense was brought to the table by this week’s guest picker Johnny Manziel. The former Heisman Trophy winner said he was picking Penn State, and the elder statesman of the crew, Lee Corso, agreed.
Kirk Herbstreit also picked Penn State, but suggested things might come out differently if this game was being played at night. That’s a fair assessment. Maybe Penn State lucked out in that sense.
We’ll see who gets the last laugh on the GameDay set with this one.
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