- BEST IN STATE -

ESPN College GameDay coming to Duke for first time

Nationally ranked Blue Devils will host Notre Dame next Saturday night. Who will Lee Corso choose with his headgear pick?

Eric Lusk

Published

September 24, 2023

Duke football will host ESPN College GameDay this weekend when Notre Dame comes to town. (Graphic courtesy Duke University athletics).

The popular ESPN College GameDay – Built By the Home Depot – pregame show will make its first-ever appearance in Durham this coming Saturday.

The network announced its decision on social media late Saturday night. Duke (4-0) is set to host Notre Dame (4-1) in a battle of nationally ranked teams this coming weekend. The Devils and Irish will kick off at 7:30 p.m. as part of ABC’s Saturday Night Football.

This will be GameDay’s second trip to the Old North State this season. The ESPN crew of Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Lee Corso and the gang started the 2023 campaign in Charlotte on Labor Day weekend, gearing fans up for the North Carolina-South Carolina clash in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff Classic.

Corso, the beloved octogenarian former coach-turned-prognosticator, gave a strong push to have Duke as the host for Week 5 of the season. Someone from the Durham/Blue Devil landscape will be asked to be a guest picker on the show. That person has not yet been announced.

GameDay came to North Carolina last September, traveling to Boone for the Appalachian State-Troy contest. The traveling road show was in the Old North State in 2021 for an early season matchup in Charlotte between Clemson and Georgia. GameDay made two appearances in NC in 2020, for a Clemson-Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem and for the ACC title game in Charlotte that December.

Duke will announce additional fan and parking information later this week.