ESPN announces 'College GameDay' will be in Baton Rouge, Austin to start 2026 football season

ESPN announced the first two stops for “College GameDay” on Tuesday afternoon. The college football preview show will head to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in Week 1 and then to Austin, Texas, for Week 2.

2026 will mark the 40th season of the hit show. To add to the occasion, the Week 1 show is reportedly also the 500th episode of the show that has been on the road.

The promotional pictures for the announcements have the panel consisting of Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit. This will be the first full season following Lee Corso’s retirement and his famous headgear picks.

“College GameDay” heading to Baton Rouge in Week 1 is no surprise. All eyes will be on LSU as new head coach Lane Kiffin makes his debut at the helm after spurning Ole Miss at the end of last season and leaving for the Tigers. LSU will host the Clemson Tigers, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Clemson finished last season with a 7-6 record, with head coach Dabo Swinney placing the blame on himself, saying, “We stunk. I stunk.” Swinney also made headlines this offseason as a whistleblower calling out Ole Miss for a recruiting violation, but the NCAA has not yet addressed the situation.

Week 2 is headlined by the Texas Longhorns welcoming the Ohio State Buckeyes to Austin.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has been open about his criticism of the NCAA and its rules this offseason, but he will have to refocus on the Longhorns to be ready for their first big test of the season.

The Buckeyes finished last season with a 12-2 overall record, but began the year at 12-0. Ohio State didn’t lose until the Big Ten Championship against Indiana, and then suffered its second loss in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against Miami.

With the first two locations for “College GameDay” already determined, now fans can start making guesses on who the first two celebrity guest pickers will be for the show.