ESPN College GameDay Returns to East Lansing

It marks the program’s eighth appearance on the MSU campus. EAST LANSING, Mich. – ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, celebrating its 29th

It marks the program’s eighth appearance on the MSU campus.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, celebrating its 29th season, will make its eighth appearance in East Lansing for Saturday’s Michigan State-Oregon game (8 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC). The weekly Emmy Award-winning show (Saturday 9-11:30 a.m. ET) is hosted by Rece Davis, along with analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack as well as contributors Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, George Whitfield and Gene Wojciechowski. The remote set will be located on Munn Field.

It marks the 84th time College GameDay has been on-campus for a Top 10 showdown, and the home team won all five of those matchups last season.

With eight campus appearances by College GameDay, Michigan State is tied for 10th (with Notre Dame and Tennessee) among NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision programs.

College GameDay returns to the Michigan State campus for the fourth time in the last five years, including Kirk Cousins' 44-yard Hail Mary pass to Keith Nichol on the final play of regulation to give the 15th-ranked Spartans a 37-31 victory over No. 4 Wisconsin in 2011.

The Spartans are 2-5 when GameDay visits East Lansing (1997: lost to Michigan, 23-7; 1999: defeated Michigan, 34-31; 2004: lost to Notre Dame, 31-24; 2005: lost to Penn State, 31-22; 2011: defeated Wisconsin, 37-31; 2012: lost to Ohio State, 17-16; 2014: lost to Ohio State, 49-37).

Since 2011, College GameDay has featured seven Michigan State games, including three visits to East Lansing (2011 vs. Wisconsin, 2012 vs. Ohio State and 2014 vs. Ohio State). MSU’s seven appearances since 2011 are the most in the Big Ten and rank tied for fifth nationally with Notre Dame and Stanford. In addition to this Saturday in East Lansing, College GameDay also visited Indianapolis for the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game, Pasadena for the 2014 Rose Bowl Game and Eugene last September for the Oregon game. The five trips to MSU games since the beginning of 2013 rank tied for fourth in the NCAA FBS (Alabama/Florida State: 7; Oregon: 6; MSU/Ohio State: 5).

Overall, it marks the 11th time College GameDay will originate from the site of a Michigan State game (4-6 record in previous 10 appearances).

Fans wishing to attend Saturday's College GameDay may pay $20 to park in the Trowbridge Road ramp (Ramp 5 opens at 7 a.m.), located directly south of the Communication Arts and Sciences Building. Those fans should note that tailgating cannot begin prior to 1 p.m. when all other campus lots open for game-related parking.

Gates to the College GameDay compound – located on Munn Field – open Saturday at 7 a.m.

Set-up for Saturday's program will start Thursday morning, as ESPN personnel will begin to prepare the stage and demonstration field areas.

To view an interactive MSU campus map, including the above referenced lot, visit: http://maps.msu.edu/interactive/.

ABC will televise Saturday’s MSU-Oregon game live to a national audience, with Davis and Herbstreit calling the action and Heather Cox reporting from the sidelines. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.