'College GameDay' announces location for first 2026 season show

ESPN's "College GameDay" will be return for Week 1 of the 2026 college football season on Sept. 5 for the Clemson Tigers at LSU Tigers game. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, will host GameDay for the first game of the coach Lane Kiffin era.

It appears that GameDay will not be attending any Week 0 game since it announced that the first two shows would be in Week 1 and Week 2. North Carolina versus TCU in Dublin, Ireland, and NC State versus Virginia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are the two top Week 0 games, but it is understandable that GameDay won't be attending either one with how far away they are and expanded College Football Playoff. GameDay picked the Clemson at LSU game over other interesting Week 1 Saturday games like Auburn versus Baylor, Washington State at Washington, UCLA at California and Boise State at Oregon.

Week 1 also features Wisconsin versus Notre Dame and Louisville versus Ole Miss on Sunday. SMU plays at Florida State on Monday. GameDay also announced that it will attend the Ohio State Buckeyes at Texas Longhorns game in Week 2.

GameDay will be opening the season with back-to-back games on SEC campuses. Last year, GameDay attended Texas' Week 1 trip to Ohio State. The Georgia Bulldogs open the season with Tennessee State in Week 1 and Western Kentucky in Week 2, so Bulldogs fans can't be upset that Georgia won't have GameDay in town for the first two weeks of the season.