Reminder, there’s no ‘College GameDay’ in Week 0 this year

For those expecting College GameDay to kick off the 2025 season in Dublin, you’re out of luck.

While ESPN’s traveling roadshow made the trip to Ireland for the first game of the 2024 college football season, that won’t be the case this year for Iowa State-Kansas State across the pond. The network hasn’t given a reason for its absence, but the decision likely has everything to do with the elaborate production planned for Lee Corso’s farewell.

Last year’s Dublin edition was a massive success, drawing 1.6 million viewers — up 41 percent over the previous Week 0 record set in 2022. The final hour peaked at 2 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode of Week 0 in the show’s history.

IMO no better indicator on the overall health of college football heading into week 1 than College Gameday (comps aren’t match-up specific)

Saturday’s College Gameday was BY far the most-watched Week 0 episode ever.

That and being a show that keeps topping itself #goat pic.twitter.com/IPVUaoatqz

— Flora Kelly (@ESPNFlora) August 27, 2024

But for as much as it was a success, the 2024 Dublin show — which also served as Nick Saban’s soft launch onto the GameDay cast — was also a full-fledged airing of grievances toward Kirk Herbstreit. Florida State fans relentlessly booed the former Ohio State quarterback throughout the three-hour broadcast, still angry over his comments about their College Football Playoff snub the previous season.

This year, ESPN is taking a different approach. Instead of sending the whole GameDay crew overseas, Corso will make his final appearance next week when the Ohio State Buckeyes host the Texas Longhorns in Columbus. The network is planning an elaborate send-off for the 90-year-old broadcaster, including a tribute special titled “Not So Fast, My Friend: A Lee Corso Special,” airing Friday, August 22.

Corso didn’t make the Dublin trip last year, but Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, and Pat McAfee all did. This time, none of the GameDay crew will make the overseas trip.

Instead of the full production, ESPN will air a two-hour College Football Countdown show from its Bristol studios. Davis will host alongside analysts Roddy Jones, E.J. Manuel, and college football insiders Heather Dinich and Pete Thamel. The show will run from 10 a.m. to noon, with Taylor McGregor providing live check-ins from Aviva Stadium before Iowa State-Kansas State kicks off.

The decision to skip Dublin makes sense from ESPN’s perspective. With Corso’s farewell looming as the central storyline of the season, the network appears to be saving its energy — and production resources — for a more controlled environment in Columbus, not to mention a head-to-head slugfest with Dave Portnoy and the revamped Big Noon Kickoff.