SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah will get another closeup on the national college football stage, with ESPN announcing its College GameDay program will air live from Salt Lake City ahead of Saturday's Utes game against Cincinnati.
The 24th ranked Utes and 17th ranked Cincinnati will face off at Rice-Eccles Stadium at 8:15 p.m.
The appearance is the third of the season for Utah college teams after FOX brought its Big Noon Kickoff Show to the state on Sept. 20 for the Texas Tech-Utah game, and last week's visit to Provo for the "Holy War" rivalry.
It will be Utah's sixth time hosting the ESPN College GameDay crew. The last appearance came in 2023 ahead of the Oregon game.
The ESPN pregame show is the biggest and most-watched in college football, with personalities such as Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit sharing their takes on what's going on in the sport.
One of the highlights of the show is McAfee's kicking contest in which a student is selected to kick a field goal, with thousands of dollars on the line. On Saturday, a Vanderbilt student won $300,000 after nailing a 33-yard field goal on live television.
Saturday's show, which starts at 7 a.m., will broadcast from President's Square on the University of Utah campus.
