Iowa’s ESPN College GameDay drought continues

Iowa City has college football’s game of the day Saturday, but it won’t have ESPN College GameDay.

Sunday, ESPN announced it will bring its show to Dallas for the Oklahoma-Texas Red River Rivalry game. That means it won’t be coming to the University of Iowa’s campus for Saturday’s Penn State-Iowa top-five matchup.

GameDay hasn’t been at Iowa since Sept. 30, 2006, the day No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 13 Iowa, 38-17.

It had already been announced that Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff football show would originate Saturday from Iowa City. That will be staged on the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest.

GameDay has been to Big Ten campuses 36 times between trips to Iowa, including 10 stops at Ohio State, seven at Penn State, five at Michigan, four at Michigan State and Wisconsin, two at Minnesota and Nebraska, and one at Indiana and Northwestern.

It was at Iowa State in 2019 and again this year for the Iowa-Iowa State games.

This will be its sixth show in Dallas for an Oklahoma-Texas contest.

Here are the number of appearances GameDay has made at university sites since that 2006 day at Iowa:

12 — Alabama

10 — Ohio State

9 — LSU, Oregon

7 — Clemson, Penn State

6 — USC, Auburn

5 — Florida, Texas A&M, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Florida State

4 — Oklahoma, South Carolina

3 — Texas, TCU, Utah, Notre Dame, Louisville, Baylor

2 — Arizona, Boston College, Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee, Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Dakota State, James Madison, Washington

1 — Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas Tech, BYU, Air Force, Boise State, Missouri, Northwestern, Indiana, Stanford, Houston, Mississippi, Florida A&M, Williams College, South Dakota State, Mississippi State, Western Michigan, UCF, Wake Forest, Coastal Carolina, Army, Harvard, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Temple, Washington State, Memphis

Since last coming to Iowa City, GameDay has been held at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, New York’s Times Square, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, the USS San Diego and Augusta National Golf Club.

But Iowa City remains off the show’s map.

As for FOX’s several hours of television from Iowa City Saturday, its announcers for its telecast of Saturday’s 3 p.m. Penn State-Iowa game will be Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft.

GameDay airs from 8 to 11 a.m. It’s hosted by Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Chris “The Bear” Fallica.

FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff will air Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. It’s hosted by Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and four-year Iowa starting defensive back (and Hall of Fame coach) Bob Stoops.

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