Predicting College GameDay locations for every week of the 2024 season

The 2024 college football season in just a few weeks away, making it an interesting time to look down the calendar at some of the top matchups that will be played in the coming weeks.

College GameDay has already announced its destination for both Week 0 and Week 1. ESPN’s flagship pregame show will be in Dublin, Ireland, for Florida State-Georgia Tech in Week 0. It will be the first-ever international show for GameDay. The crew has also already said it will be in College Station for Notre Dame-Texas A&M in Week 1 on Aug. 31.

So with that being said, here are College GameDay location predictions for Week 2 onwards in 2024:

Week 2: Texas at Michigan

Even though FOX has the broadcasting rights for this game, this is the clear choice for GameDay in Week 2. ESPN has not been reluctant to send GameDay to FOX games in the past, and I’m not expecting that to change in 2024 just because the World Wide Leader now has SEC rights. This Week 2 showdown between Texas and Michigan has all sorts of storylines, ranging from the continued fallout of Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal to major College Football Playoff implications for both teams.

Other options worth considering: Tennessee vs. NC State (Charlotte); Iowa State at Iowa; Colorado at Nebraska;

Betting line: Texas (-3.5) at Michigan | DraftKings

Week 3: Oregon at Oregon State

There’s usually 1 September weekend that’s a little bit flat due to some weak nonconference scheduling, and that appears to be Week 3 this season. GameDay has not been afraid to go off the beaten path in these situations in past years. In 2023, they were at Colorado-Colorado State in Week 3. In 2022, GameDay went the Group-of-5 route and took a trip to Troy-App State. In 2021, they made the trip to Ames, Iowa, for the CyHawk game in Week 4.

Alabama-Wisconsin is certainly an option here, but I think GameDay will save Kalen DeBoer’s Tide for a weekend in Tuscaloosa. Instead, it would make a lot of sense for GameDay to head to Corvallis for what is sure to be a super-charged atmosphere at the Civil War.

Other options worth considering: Alabama at Wisconsin; Washington State at Washington; LSU at South Carolina; Texas A&M at Florida

Betting line: Oregon (-20.5) at Oregon State | ESPN BET

Week 4: Tennessee at Oklahoma

This figures to be one of the most highly-anticipated matchups involving either of the SEC newcomers this season. This will be OU’s first-ever SEC game, and it comes against former Sooners quarterback and offensive coordinator Josh Heupel. Heupel was the quarterback of Oklahoma’s most-recent national championship team in 2000, but was dismissed as the team’s OC a decade ago. There will be plenty of storylines for GameDay to explore — both on and off the field.

Other options worth considering: USC at Michigan; UCLA at LSU; NC State at Clemson; TCU at SMU;

Betting line: Tennessee at Oklahoma (-3) | Caesars

Week 5: Georgia at Alabama

This matchup is a virtual lock to get the GameDay treatment. The biggest-game of the DeBoer era to date, Alabama will be hosting Georgia in Tuscaloosa for the first time since 2020. Excluding the COVID season, it hasn’t happened since 2007. This game has also already been announced as the primetime ABC game for Week 5.

Other options worth considering: Oklahoma at Auburn; Ohio State at Michigan State; Oregon at UCLA; Wisconsin at USC;

Betting line: Georgia at Alabama (-3.5) | FanDuel

RELATED: Ranking the SEC’s 7 best chances to host College GameDay in 2024

Week 6: Michigan at Washington

Clemson at Florida State sticks out as the best game on the slate for Week 5. But it might be too soon for Kirk Herbstreit and company to head down to Tallahassee after the network was highly-criticized by FSU fans for how it handled the Noles’ College Football Playoff snub last season. Florida State’s ongoing lawsuit to get out of its Grant-of-Rights agreement likely doesn’t help matters, either. Missouri-Texas A&M is another intriguing option, but GameDay will have already been to College Station once this season.

With that in mind, it makes sense for GameDay to showcase a rematch of last year’s national championship game. If this is the week to go the Group-of-5 route, then Utah State-Boise State is also a pretty intriguing option.

Other options worth considering: Clemson at Florida State; Missouri at Texas A&M; Utah State at Boise State;

Betting line: Michigan (-8.5) at Washington | DraftKings

Week 7: Ohio State at Oregon

The weekend of Oct. 12 is perhaps the most-loaded slate of the entire 2024 season. Texas-Oklahoma, Ole Miss-LSU and Penn State-USC all figure to have serious national title implications. And yet, it feels like Ohio State making the trek to Eugene is the easy choice for College GameDay. This game could decide who wins the Big Ten regular-season title, with the Ducks and Buckeyes both at the top of most preseason predictions for that league. In theory, this could be the first of 3 matchups between Ohio State and Oregon this season — but likely the only one played at a campus site.

Other options worth considering: Oklahoma vs. Texas; Ole Miss at LSU; Penn State at USC;

Betting line: Ohio State at Oregon (-1) | ESPN BET

Week 8: Georgia at Texas

This is the best game on Texas’ home slate for its first SEC season. It’s a matchup between 2 programs who hope to be national championship contenders in 2024 — and perennial Playoff participants moving forward. Despite being top programs for decades, Georgia and Texas have met just 5 times previously. The last time they played in Austin? 1958.

Other options worth considering: Kentucky at Florida; Alabama at Tennessee;

Betting line: Georgia (-1.5) at Texas | FanDuel

Week 9: Oklahoma at Ole Miss

This week has several intriguing options, but this could be a top-25 matchup with significant CFP implications — especially if the Sooners are able to beat Texas in Week 7. Surprisingly, College GameDay has only been to Oxford twice in its history. That’s not nearly often enough considering Ole Miss has one of the very best game-day atmospheres in the sport.

Other options worth considering: Missouri at Alabama; LSU at Texas A&M; Michigan State at Michigan; Nebraska at Ohio State; Florida State at Miami

Betting line: Oklahoma at Ole Miss (-6.5) | BetMGM

Week 10: Ohio State at Penn State

GameDay loves to come to Happy Valley for Ohio State-Penn State. It skipped the game in 2022, but it was there in both 2020 and 2018. With how meaningful this game is likely to be in the Big Ten standings, it’s hard to imagine GameDay passing up this trip to State College.

Other options worth considering: Kentucky at Tennessee; Oregon at Michigan; Louisville at Clemson; Florida at Georgia

Betting line: Ohio State (-4.5) at Penn State | Caesars

Week 11: Clemson at Virginia Tech

This is a bit of long-shot, considering that Alabama-LSU is also this weekend. But this is a great opportunity to get a couple of ACC programs involved and showcase one of college football’s most electric atmospheres in Lane Stadium. Is Virginia Tech back? The hype has been pretty significant this offseason and the Hokies could very well be a 0-or-1-loss team going into this marquee matchup vs. Clemson. Blacksburg hasn’t hosted GameDay since 2017.

Other options worth considering: Oklahoma at Missouri; Georgia at Ole Miss; Alabama at LSU; Florida State at Notre Dame

Betting line: Clemson (-4.5) at Virginia Tech | DraftKings

Week 12: Tennessee at Georgia

Georgia will likely have been featured a couple times on GameDay by mid-November, but this could be GameDay’s first trip to Athens on the year. It’s a game that features traditional SEC East foes who both expect to be vying for College Football Playoff consideration in mid-November. Regardless of when it comes, Athens is a safe bet to host GameDay at least once this season — it has done so in each of the previous 5 campaigns.

Other options worth considering: LSU at Florida; Nebraska at USC; Texas at Arkansas

Betting line: Tennessee at Georgia (-16.5) | DraftKings

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Week 13: Western Kentucky at Liberty

This is a bit of a shot in the dark. But GameDay almost always visits a Group-of-5 contender, and Liberty’s Week 13 showdown against Western Kentucky is a great time to highlight a program that very well could be in the College Football Playoff this season. Liberty will be a significant betting favorite in the vast majority of its games this season, but the Western Kentucky contest should be close. Those programs finished top-2 in Conference USA’s preseason media poll, with the Hilltoppers even earning multiple first-place votes.

This is a relatively weak SEC slate, with several teams playing games against nonconference competition. SEC programs who are playing conference games this week like Oklahoma, Texas and LSU will have likely already hosted GameDay earlier in the year. The Big Ten and ACC don’t have any obvious top-25 matchups this week, either. Liberty has never participated in a GameDay contest before.

Other options worth considering: Texas A&M at Auburn; Alabama at Oklahoma; Texas Tech at Oklahoma State;

Week 14: Michigan at Ohio State

Could this season end any other way than GameDay making the trip to Columbus for Michigan at Ohio State? The Buckeyes will be under serious pressure to end their 3-game losing streak to Michigan, making this the most compelling matchup of rivalry week. The only way this gets upstaged is if Texas and Texas A&M are both top-10 teams going into their meeting at Kyle Field.

Other options worth considering: Auburn at Alabama; Florida at Florida State; Texas at Texas A&M; Notre Dame at USC;

Betting line: Michigan at Ohio State (-9.5) | FanDuel