ESPN’s “College GameDay” has announced its location for Week 11 of the 2024 college football season this Saturday.
Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and crew will be in Baton Rouge for the SEC showdown between the No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide and No. 13 LSU Tigers. Kickoff for that game is at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on ABC.
ESPN’s decision to head to Baton Rouge for such a pivotal (and familiar) game is a smart one. Alabama-LSU is annually one of the country’s most-watched and most-anticipated rivalries.
The last time ‘Bama and LSU met without College Football Playoff or BCS Championship hopes on the line was all the way back in 2006, a year before Saban returned to the college ranks as Alabama’s head coach after a two-year stay in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.
This year, the matchup is essentially a College Football Playoff elimination game as both Alabama and LSU have two losses.
Saturday’s edition of “College GameDay” is sure to be an emotional one. On Thursday, Herbstreit announced the passing of his beloved dog Ben, who had been accompanying the veteran broadcaster on college and NFL games for several seasons.
It will also mark the first time Saban will be in Baton Rouge as an analyst instead of a head coach. Before leading the Crimson Tide to six national championships over 17 seasons, Saban coached at LSU from 2000-04. He built a perennially underwhelming LSU program into a BCS National Champion in 2003.
The “GameDay” crew has now broadcast live from SEC venues six times this season. ESPN agreed to pay $300 million a year for the exclusive rights to broadcast SEC games beginning in 2024.
Clemson football 2024 schedule
Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers (6-2) will be in Blacksburg Saturday to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Clemson is coming off a 33-21 loss to the Louisville Cardinals that dealt a severe blow to their College Football Playoff hopes; the Tigers are ranked No. 23 in the initial CFP rankings. Cade Klubnik, Phil Mafah and the offense struggled for three-plus quarters vs. Louisville after being red hot in the Tigers’ six straight wins before that.
Virginia Tech (5-4) has four losses but they’ve all been by seven points or fewer. Coach Brent Pry’s Hokies fell 38-31 in overtime to the Syracuse Orange at JMA Wireless Dome last week.
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Clemson football 2024 Schedule: What’s left?
After Virginia Tech, the Tigers have another big road test on Nov. 16 when they face Eli Holstein and the No. 23 Pitt Panthers. Clemson closes the regular season with two games in Death Valley: Nov. 23 vs. The Citadel and the rival South Carolina Gamecocks on Nov. 30.
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