ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast set up shop Saturday at West Point to help preview the 121st Army-Navy game. Entering the game, Army is 7-2 while Navy is 3-6, and the Black Knights are 7.5-point favorites.
Normally, the service academies’ famed matchup is held at Lincoln Financial Field, a neutral site, in Philadelphia. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on gatherings at outdoor events — which would have prevented the Corps of Cadets and Brigade of Midshipmen from attending, as the Army Times reported — the game was moved to Michie Stadium at West Point. And it’s the first time the game is on a home field since World War II.
Something that is typical here: Army and Navy both have fantastic alternate uniforms for this rivalry game.
The GameDay crew broadcast from outside the stadium, but Lee Corso continued to do the show from his home studio in Orlando, as he has all season.
And unsurprisingly, the former Navy defensive backs coach — dressed in a Navy robe and standing on a boat — went with the Midshipmen for his pick this week. He announced his pick earlier than usual in the broadcast, but he still put the Bill the Goat headgear on later.
No surprise here …
For the 7th year in a row, Coach picks Navy over Army! pic.twitter.com/XIw8gJvRoW
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 12, 2020
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) December 12, 2020
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who was also previously a member of the College Football Playoff committee — was GameDay‘s guest picker Saturday. And she went with Army over Navy.
Corso also picked Baylor over No. 22 Oklahoma State, Auburn over Mississippi State, Georgia over Missouri, No. 16 Iowa over Wisconsin, Virginia over Virginia Tech, No. 17 North Carolina over No. 10 Miami, Stanford over Oregon State, No. 21 Colorado over Utah and UCLA over No. 15 USC.
Another highlight of Saturday’s show was Kirk Herbstreit leaving the set to get to the UNC-Miami game and making his picks while flying in a helicopter.
NEXT LEVEL from @KirkHerbstreit 🚁
He's making his picks from a helicopter as he heads to North Carolina-Miami! pic.twitter.com/2wjFELRfL9
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 12, 2020
"Not so fast helicopter man!" 😂@KirkHerbstreit making his picks from a helicopter is awesome. pic.twitter.com/JAUTumGGyB
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 12, 2020
[jwplayer 10WEZr3V-q2aasYxh]
[vertical-gallery id=967554]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393249]