With due respect to Lainey Wilson and Glen Powell, ESPN entered a different stratosphere by securing the larger-than-life, legendary actor Morgan Freeman as its Week 3 guest picker for College GameDay.
College GameDay will set up shop at The Grove on Ole Miss’s campus in Oxford, Mississippi, on Saturday. No. 7 LSU will take on No. 8 Ole Miss in Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford later that night, but Freeman, 89, will have already stolen Kiffin’s thunder by making his first-ever GameDay appearance.
“Well, obviously, I agreed to do it because I’m tied up with this lady who is an ex-professor at Ole Miss,” Freeman, a Mississippi native, said on The Pat McAfee Show, where McAfee revealed Freeman as guest picker. “We’re intimate with what happens there. I have my own feelings about Ole Miss — the football and basketball. I’m looking forward to being there on Saturday, and I’m looking forward to this game. I promise you.”
Ole Miss named Freeman an honorary alumnus in July 2025, and Freeman frequents Ole Miss basketball games.
With McAfee, Freeman diverted from Ole Miss chatter to offer his impromptu thoughts on the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions’ matchup on Thursday Night Football. “There are meat eaters and meat coming together,” Freeman said. “No prediction! I’m just saying.”
A test run for his official pick on Saturday, though there is no suspense around whether Freeman will pick Ole Miss or LSU. “I’ll try my best,” Freeman said after McAfee joked that he “better get that sh*t right.”
When Kirk Herbstreit hopped in to ask whether he’s “a big fan of football,” Freeman took a coy beat. “What am I gonna say here?” he said, laughing. “I mean, for the SEC, of course, if it’s not Ole Miss playing, then I’m just watching who are close to us. Like, Auburn. If it’s NFL, I’m probably glued to Kansas City.”
Freeman’s presence on College GameDay should act as a much-needed palate cleanser. Over the first two weeks, GameDay has polarized viewers by advocating for the Protect College Sports Act. While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was buried by relentless boos last week, Morgan Freeman will be met with rapturous cheers.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.