ESPN and College GameDay have announced its destination for Week 9 of the 2024 college football season, and it’s a place that the crew of Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee and company have never visited as a unit.
The GameDay crew will be in Bloomington for the Indiana Hoosiers’ Big Ten matchup with the Washington Huskies this Saturday, marking a return to Corso’s former stomping grounds as head coach. Corso led the Hoosiers’ program from 1973-1982.
Indiana’s game against Washington marks the first time the Hoosiers have ever hosted GameDay (at least in football). Indiana is 7-0 and ranked No. 13 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll after crushing the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 56-7, last Saturday.
The Hoosiers have won every game this season by at least two scores. Their smallest margin of victory was a 42-28 win over Mike Locksley’s Maryland Terrapins back on Sept. 28.
Indiana is coached by Curt Cignetti, a former Saban assistant at Alabama from 2007-2010 who was the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Cignetti was at ‘Bama during the recruitment of program-defining stars like Julio Jones, Mark Ingram and others from the Tide’s celebrated 2008 recruiting class.
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Cignetti previously coached at James Madison for five seasons before accepting the Indiana job in November 2023.
For Saban, who has been must-see TV each Saturday morning for his various anecdotes, analysis and sharp wit, it will mark his first visit to Bloomington since his days as Michigan State’s head coach.
From 1995-99, Saban compiled a 4-0 record vs. the Hoosiers. He led the Spartans to a 31-13 victory in Bloomington in his first season at Michigan State in 1995, and a 38-6 win at Indiana in 1997.
As for Washington, the Huskies are 4-3 in Jedd Fisch’s first season in Seattle. Fisch, the former Arizona Wildcats coach, was tapped to replace Kalen DeBoer after leading Arizona to a 10-win season and Alamo Bowl victory over the Oklahoma Sooners last season.
Kickoff for Washington vs. Indiana is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.
In Tuscaloosa, No. 15 Alabama hosts No. 17 Missouri at 2:30 p.m. in Week 9. The game will be televised on ABC.
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