10/9/2022 football Edit

College GameDay heading back to Knoxville for Tennessee-Alabama clash

Lee Corso energized Tennessee fans when College GameDay was in Knoxville ahead of the Vols' game against Florida on Sept. 24, 2022. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Noah Taylor • VolReport

Managing Editor

Noah is a graduate of the UT College of Journalism & Electronic Media and has covered Tennessee football since 2019. He joined Rivals in 2022.

For the second time this season, College GameDay will broadcast from the University of Tennessee's campus.

The popular ESPN college football pregame show announced Sunday that it will return to Knoxville ahead of the No. 8 Vols’ critical SEC showdown with No. 1 Alabama next Saturday.

College GameDay picked Tennessee for its game against then-No. 20 Florida on Sept. 24. The Vols won 38-33 at Neyland Stadium.

Tennessee is coming off of a 40-13 drubbing of No. 25 LSU at Tiger Stadium on Saturday while Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC) survived a scare from Texas A&M in a dramatic 24-20 finish in Tuscaloosa.

The rivalry clash between the two programs, historically known as the "Third Saturday in October," will be the first ranked vs. ranked matchup in the series since 2016.

GameDay won't be the only ESPN-affiliated show in town, either.

SEC Network's morning pregame show, SEC Nation, also announced that it will air live from campus that morning — as will the Paul Finebaum Show on Friday before the game.

Alabama is riding a 15-game winning streak against Tennessee, the longest in the series for either team, but the 105th edition of the rivalry is garnering more national attention than it has in past years with the Vols (5-0, 2-0 SEC) off to their best start in six seasons.

Like the Florida game, Neyland Stadium is sold out.

"Everybody knows who's coming to town next weekend and the opportunity we have in front of us," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said following the win over LSU. "Neyland's going to be electric. Can't imagine it'll be more hostile than it was for Florida, but let's go."

Kickoff between Tennessee and Alabama is set for 3:30 p.m. on CBS.

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