Tag: ESPN College GameDay

ESPN College Gameday heading to Dallas for Texas-Oklahoma

College Gameday is heading to the Cotton Bowl!

Yeah, they’re coming, to your city. Well, kind of.

ESPN announced College Gameday will be heading to Dallas for this season’s Red River Shootout. Texas (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) will be facing off against Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0 Big 12). According to the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches poll, it will once again be a ranked matchup — the fourth in four years.

Also under consideration could have been the top-five matchup between Iowa and Penn State. However, with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff heading to Iowa City and broadcasting the game, ESPN decided to promote a game on their own network.

College Gameday last showed up to Red River in 2018 where Cameron Dicker famously hit a game-winning field goal. 2001, 2002, 2008, 2009, and 2011 matchups also saw the crew roll into the State Fair.

Steve Sarkisian vs Lincoln Riley will face off against each other for the first time and it should be a sight to see. Both have top 15 scoring offenses five games into the season.

Taking control of the Big 12 is at stake as well. Whoever is able to win on Saturday will have a leg up toward making the conference’s championship game in December. Even if a win is achieved in Dallas, both know the other could end up in Arlington.

As it should be, Texas-Oklahoma will kick off at 11 a.m. this Saturday on ABC.

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Does Pollack expect Swinney to change his stance on the transfer portal?

Dabo Swinney has had a longstanding policy about adding transfers that he has stuck with during his tenure as Clemson’s head coach. While countless other teams across the country have used the transfer portal to enhance their rosters, the Tigers are …

Dabo Swinney has had a longstanding policy about adding transfers that he has stuck with during his tenure as Clemson’s head coach.

While countless other teams across the country have used the transfer portal to enhance their rosters, the Tigers are not one of those teams. Swinney has always been against it and has never brought in a transfer.

After a 2-2 start to the 2021 season, one that has all but eliminated the Tigers from the College Football Playoff picture, Swinney’s policy is being probed as attrition and youth take their toll on the Tigers at key positions.

During ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning, college football analyst and former Georgia linebacker David Pollack talked about Swinney’s opposition to the transfer portal and whether he thinks Swinney will change his stance on it moving forward.

“You know what, I think it’s interesting because there’s a lot of talk about Dabo Swinney this weekend,” Pollack said. “Just like Coach K (Duke head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski) – Coach K developed a basketball program and had so much success. Didn’t want to do the one-and-dones. He evolved. Just like Nick Saban – offensively, didn’t want to spread it out, didn’t want to go up-tempo. He evolved.

“Dabo Swinney, when you look at him, he’s been very much against the transfer portal. Talked about culture, building culture. They’ve had 20 kids lost in the transfer portal. They have signed zero kids from the transfer portal. He’ll have to evolve in that aspect. If they had that on the offensive line right now, it would have changed their team completely this season. So, I expect that will be a big difference in the future with Dabo. They’re going to have to address that.”

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ESPN College Gameday picks for Wisconsin vs. Michigan

ESPN College GameDay picks for Michigan-Wisconsin

ESPN College Gameday made their picks for every big matchup of Week 5, including Wisconsin and Michigan.

The cast of analysts and hosts led by Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Rece Davis spent three hours reviewing every storyline across the sport live from Georgia ahead of Arkansas meeting up with the Bulldogs.

A lot of the Badgers-Wolverines talk centered around the fact that Wisconsin has dominated Michigan over the past two seasons and UW has not lost to the Wolverines at home since 2001. That being said, Michigan rolls in with all the momentum after their 4-0 start to the season.

Here is who the cast of Corso, Herbstreit, Howard and guest picker, golfer, Harris English:

Desmond Howard has a message for Clemson fans

On ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning, there was a discussion about whether Clemson can flip the switch after a disappointing start to its 2021 season. The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) enter Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game against Boston College at …

On ESPN’s College GameDay show Saturday morning, there was a discussion about whether Clemson can flip the switch after a disappointing start to its 2021 season.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-1 ACC) enter Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. game against Boston College at Death Valley having lost two games in the month of September for the first time since 2014.

Heading into Week 5, Clemson’s offense ranks 122nd nationally in total offense (296 yards per game). After beginning the season at No. 3 in the AP Poll, the Tigers came into this weekend ranked 25th – their first time outside of the top 10 since 2015.

ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard, a former Heisman Trophy winner who played for Michigan before an 11-year NFL career, had a message for Clemson fans during the College GameDay segment on Dabo Swinney’s program.

“I just want to tell the Clemson Tigers fans that Clemson will be OK – just not this season,” he said. “It’s going to be a rough season.”

Howard pointed to Clemson’s offensive line, combined with the departures of stars like Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne from a year ago, as why he thinks it will be a turbulent season for the Tigers the rest of the way.

“It started in the trenches,” he said. “When you had to start (a true freshman in Marcus Tate) on the offensive line, especially against this Georgia defense, it was baptism by fire. And then they weren’t able to gel to get their confidence, hoping they had a guard to play center. They’re trying to find their way. They’re trying to find an identity. When you lose the type of talent that they lost in the draft, and then you start with almost from scratch on the offensive line that isn’t used to playing together, these are some of the issues and problems that you’re going to have. So, this year’s going to be a rough year for the Clemson Tigers.”

Howard expects Swinney and the Tigers to get things turned around, but not until next year.

“Dabo hasn’t forgotten how to coach,” he said. “They’re going to be OK – just not in 2021.”

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U.S. Ryder Cup team members announce ESPN College GameDay guest picker for Arkansas vs. Georgia

There’s more to the video than a fun announcement.

ESPN’s College GameDay spent Saturday morning in beautiful Athens, Georgia, one of America’s best college towns ahead of today’s Southeastern Conference clash between the University of Georgia and the University of Arkansas.

Joining the crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Lee Corso was Georgia Bulldog Harris English, fresh off his role in the U.S. Ryder Cup team’s resounding 19-9 victory last weekend over Team Europe.

All the team members, including Captain Steve Stricker and his assistant captains, participated in a promo video that was a home run. It showed Xander Schauffele, who attended San Diego State, still puffing away on his victory cigar in a lounge chair, Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka, who was wearing a paper bag over his head, making fun of their alma mater, Florida State, and their winless season, and a pair of Texans in Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler giving the “Hook’em horns” sign.

English isn’t the first golfer to be chosen as a guest picker. At the 2020 Masters in November, the GameDay crew set up at Augusta National’s Par-3 Course with Jack Nicklaus, who won the individual national title at Ohio State. ESPN just so happened to own the early-round broadcast rights to the Masters, but ESPN hasn’t held the rights to the PGA Tour since 2006. That’s about to change in a few months. The PGA Tour struck a nine-year rights deal with ESPN for digital rights between 2022 and 2030, which is designed to deliver more video content and reach a broader audience.

“Think about the Tour being promoted on ESPN and their digital families, which is north of 50 million unique viewers from what we have today,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at time of the announcement.

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Consider this an early sign of what is to come: a larger presence for golf on “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” which has a way of trumpeting its partners and overlooking those entities that it doesn’t have a financial incentive to promote.

Consider hearing English say, “Go Dawgs,” on Saturday as a signal that golf is back in ESPN’s good graces for the foreseeable future.

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Would Herbstreit be ‘shocked’ if Clemson loses another game?

Few people in the national media know the Clemson program, as well as Kirk Herbstreit, does. For Clemson, this season most likely won’t end in a College Football Playoff appearance, but Herbstreit isn’t buying that it’s necessarily over. The Tigers …

Few people in the national media know the Clemson program, as well as Kirk Herbstreit, does.

For Clemson, this season most likely won’t end in a College Football Playoff appearance, but Herbstreit isn’t buying that it’s necessarily over.

The Tigers enter Saturday’s matchup vulnerable. Clemson is 2-2 for the first time in October since 2014. Tonight, Clemson has a 30-game winning streak at Memorial Stadium on the line against a 4-0 Boston College team.

“I don’t know if they play anybody on their schedule that makes them feel like they take the field every Saturday and they don’t have a chance to win,” he said on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay Saturday morning. “It’s not the teams that we’ve seen in recent years.”

“I don’t think this season is over for Clemson. I think it’s almost as if they’re gonna lose five games. I’d be shocked if they lose another game, personally.”

As Swinney said this past Tuesday, he knows what Clemson’s issues are and so does the rest of the world. 

The Tigers haven’t been able to get any push up front or block enough consistently to create any sort of running lanes. Even with Will Shipley sidelined and Lyn-J Dixon leaving the program, it doesn’t matter. It’s hard for anyone to effectively run the football behind Clemson’s offensive line.

“Now they got Will Shipley, their running back is out. Lyn-J Dixon is in the transfer portal. They’re down to Kobe Pace, Darien Rencher may get a chance today, but the offensive line, no matter who’s back there, has had issues,” Herbstreit said. “D.J. (Uiagalelei) is going to have to continue to be a willing runner, just like Deshaun Waston, just like Trevor Lawrence, just like Tajh Boyd. He has to run the ball. He has a little bit more, eight or nine carries the last couple of weeks.”

Herbstreit’s solution could seemingly be in the cards for Tony Elliott and the Tigers as Clemson looks to its straighten out its offensive woes Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

GameDay crew dishes on state of Clemson’s program: ‘These guys are pissed’

On the first hour of this Saturday’s version of ESPN’s College GameDay, the trio of David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit each dished their thoughts out on the state of Clemson’s program and where the Tigers go from here. Leading up to …

On the first hour of this Saturday’s version of ESPN’s College GameDay, the trio of David Pollack, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit each dished their thoughts out on the state of Clemson’s program and where the Tigers go from here.

Leading up to today’s game against NC State, ESPN set forth a segment that showed Matt Bockhort’s fiery comments from earlier this week. It resonated with the crew and summarizes the level of frustration that has boiled up until this point.

“If I’m Dabo, all these years I’ve had to manufacture so many bad things against me like these guys are pissed now,” Pollack said. “These guys are literally upset. They have something to be upset about. Usually, it’s like ‘Hey we’re gonna go to the natty. We’re gonna be in the final four, the ACC stinks.’ Dabo’s got everything he needs right now. Listen, do they need to get some things fixed? 100 percent. The offensive line has to get better. I think the quarterback run game will be more and more a part of this offense. But right now, the best thing about this team is they’re gonna be pissed off.”

As for Howard, the former Heisman winner believes that D.J. Uiagalelei “almost refuses to run.” That he’s hesitant and won’t tuck the ball and run unless instructed otherwise by his offensive coordinator, Tony Elliott. 

Howard has been concerned with Clemson’s offense and he hasn’t been shy about sharing that opinion throughout. However, he does love what he’s seen from Bockhorst and his willingness to hold others around him accountable.

“I just love the way that Matt Bockhorst said, ‘Listen, I’m not here to make friends.’ He’s now starting to hold his teammates accountable,” Howard said. “When Dabo Swinney did a press conference he said, “Yeah, he’s playing a lot of football here. He’s seen the way we win. He knows the standard.’ So now, he’s gonna hold his teammates accountable. I love that. I hope he shows himself today when they play NC State, though.”

As for Herbstreit, he believes Clemson’s issues offensively go beyond this season and into last, where they were masked by two first-round picks, who now play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“Clemson’s had some years where they’ve struggled early,” Herbstreit said. “I think Tony Elliott, what I’ve seen him do, is they go back to the practice and simplify, help the offensive line out and they go fast. I think we’ll see more tempo, more to try to accelerate, try to get NC. State on their heels.

“But there are real issues here with this offensive line. This was an issue last year. It was hidden because you had Travis Etienne, you had Trevor Lawrence and they threw the ball out more than they were able to run. They cannot run the ball for the second year in a row as we sit here right now. You got NC State, if they’re smart, they’re gonna set back and coverage and not let [Joseph] Ngata…make them beat you vertically and just see if they can run the ball and move the ball down the field.”

Clemson’s offense will try to right the ship when the Tigers take on NC State (2-1, 0-0 ACC) today at 3:30 p.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

GameDay crew assesses state of Ohio State football program

ESPN’s College GameDay crew assessed the state of Ohio State’s program, following a loss at home to No. 4 Oregon. “Ohio State just doesn’t look like itself, ” Rece Davis said. Davis went on about the Buckeyes not being able to stop the run. …

ESPN’s College GameDay crew assessed the state of Ohio State’s program, following a loss at home to No. 4 Oregon.

“Ohio State just doesn’t look like itself, ” Rece Davis said.

Davis went on about the Buckeyes not being able to stop the run. Additionally, they’ve allowed a running back to go over 160 yards in each of their first two games and haven’t been able to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Lee Corso didn’t exactly agree with Davis, despite the loss to Oregon. The legendary coach believes that the Big 10 East Division still runs through Columbus and he said this on the set of College GameDay, which is in University Park (PA.) for Penn State’s matchup against Auburn at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

“They don’t play anybody on their schedule as talented and as skilled as Oregon and that includes Penn State,” Corso said. “Any problems they have, the offense will take care of it. That’s it.”

Kirk Herbstreit alluded to Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s press conference earlier this week in which he insinuated that this wasn’t just a bad day at the office for Ohio State in Week 2, that this has been a pattern since Jeff Hafley left for Boston College.

“Ohio State has been trying to figure out things ever since,” Herbstreit said.

Day elected to remove Kerry Combs as the team’s defensive play-caller after the Buckeyes have given up a combined 66 points over the first two games.

Herbstreit was very critical of Ohio State’s defensive approach.

“They play a very simple defense, one high safety, it’s either Cover 3 or Cover 1,” he said. “Offensive coordinators are understanding how to manipulate that defense. Oregon [offensive coordinator] Joe Moorhead did an amazing job. As far as gap integrity, the linebackers and safeties, it’s non-existent. Their eyes are everywhere.

“Ohio State to me, how they addressed it this week is Ryan Day took his butt down to the defense. He’s basically the offensive coordinator, he’s now coaching the defense. I’m interested to see if Matt Barnes, the secondary coach, can help out a little more. I don’t even care who calls the defense because they all do. I want to see the adjustments that are made, I’d simplify. Get their eyes right. It’s really unsound defense right now.”

While Herbstreit was very critical of Ohio State’s defense, Desmond Howard had some praise for what they’ve been able to accomplish on the offensive end. Howard is a big believer in Day as a play-caller and his ability to make in-game adjustments.

Herbstreit believes Ohio State’s offense, led by C.J. Stroud, has great potential. While Howard chimed in that the Buckeyes have the best receiver corps in the nation.

The Buckeyes haven’t played a complete game yet and that will have to change soon. Time will certainly tell as Ohio State looks to get back on track against Tulsa at 3:30 p.m.

Time to get the latest Clemson apparel to show your Tiger pride. Order your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!

College GameDay picks Auburn vs Penn State

Do you agree with the experts?

Gameday has finally arrived.

Auburn will take on Penn State tonight at 6:30pm CT in Penn State’s annual white out game. The Nittany Lions are 8-8 all time in their white out games.

Lee Corso of College Gameday brought up during today’s broadcast that. Penn State has lost their last five games to SEC opponents. Auburn is no slouch, and according to Corso, the Tigers have a legitimate shot in this game.

College Gameday went through their picks for the marquee matchup between no. 22 Auburn and no. 10 Penn State. Let’s take a look at what the crew thinks about this game.

Does Desmond Howard think Clemson’s O-line can fix its issues?

Clemson’s offensive line clearly struggled mightily against a stout Georgia defense in the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to the Bulldogs last Saturday in Charlotte. Clemson had just 2 yards rushing, its fewest in a game under Dabo Swinney and the fourth-fewest …

Clemson’s offensive line clearly struggled mightily against a stout Georgia defense in the Tigers’ 10-3 loss to the Bulldogs last Saturday in Charlotte.

Clemson had just 2 yards rushing, its fewest in a game under Dabo Swinney and the fourth-fewest in school history, and the team’s longest rush went for 10 yards.

Meanwhile, the Tigers allowed seven sacks, the most in a game under Swinney.

So, does ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard believe Clemson’s O-line can correct its issues going forward in the season?

“When I look at Clemson’s offensive line, I think that’s a fixable issue right now,” Howard said Saturday morning on ESPN’s College GameDay. “They started two freshmen. Even the center (Matt Bockhorst), it was his first game starting (at center). He played at guard a year ago. So, I think Tony Elliott and those guys, they’ll be OK. If you’re a Tigers fan, all is well because you will not run into a defense like that the rest of the regular season, I guarantee you that.”

Added Howard when asked if Clemson’s O-line is a problem: “Yeah, it’s a problem. But I think they can fix that because these guys only have 42 combined starts. Very young, inexperienced group. I think they’ll be OK going forward.”

The Tigers return to action at 5 p.m. today when they host South Carolina State at Death Valley. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.

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