Potential Gameday Visit to the Plains?

[lca408 367]

I know this is a bit ahead of what we're focusing on right now but I thought it would be fun to speculate since we're all just waiting for the season to start.

I've been looking at the national schedules, and I think Auburn has a decent shot to host College Gameday on September 22nd for the LSU game. We know that there is literally no other interesting game in the SEC that day aside from Missouri @ South Carolina so it's pretty likely that it will be picked up for 2:30 kickoff by CBS. I took the liberty of looking at other big games that day and came up with the following potential candidates for Gameday:

Michigan @ Notre Dame: Mainly because of what happened at last year's game and how exciting it ended up being. There's potential for both teams to be ranked but I doubt ND will be. Depending on what happens in Dallas, Michigan could be pretty highly ranked, or sitting somewhere in the 15 to 20 range.

Cal @ USC: More than likely, Cal will have one loss at this point after going on the road to Columbus to play OSU and therefore unranked. USC will certainly still be ranked high, but as you'll see, the Gameday crew may be reluctant to visit the same team two weeks in a row.

Kansas St. @ Oklahoma: KSU plays Miami the week before this game. If they win, they'll likely be knocking on the door of the top ten, facing an undefeated and highly ranked Oklahoma team. This could be the biggest competition for Auburn/LSU, but again, I think that depends on how KSU fares in Coral Gables, a game I think they may lose.

Clemson @ Florida St.: This one really just depends on our game with cousin Clem. If we lose, we won't really be in contention for Gameday at that point, even if we beat MSU. If we win, Clemson drops out of the top 20 and is probably in the 20 - 25 range for this game, making a Gameday trip unlikely.

So that's about it for Sep 22nd. It all depends on who is hot at the moment and who isn't. But there is another factor at play here. Let's look at the weekend before - September 15th:

Alabama @ Arkansas: This depends heavily on the outcome of the game in Dallas but going by the line, Bama and Arky will likely be undefeated and both ranked in or around the top ten. This is a biggie. If Gameday comes to Fayetteville, there's a decent chance they won't return to the SEC two weeks in a row.

Florida @ Tennessee: The only other marquee SEC matchup is this gem in Knoxville. I find it highly unlikely that it will be seriously considered by ESPN.

USC @ Stanford: This is the main competition for Bama/Arky. I'd think that since Bama/Michigan is the focus of week 1's Gameday, that the crew would like to host in Palo Alto for this matchup of two undefeateds, USC #1 and Stanford probably in the 18 to 20 range.

I'm thinking that if Auburn takes care of business against Clemson, MSU, and La Monroe, we'll be sitting at around 14 to 17 by the time LSU arrives in town. LSU will more than likely still be undefeated, ranked #1 or #2 depending on the Bama/Michigan and USC/Stanford outcomes. That's a pretty attractive game for ESPN on an SEC campus that the crew have said many times is alot of fun to visit. I think it all depends on Auburn's record and the location of the previous week's show. Still, I think we have a good shot, and just imagine how insane that campus will be if it happens.

What are your thoughts?

Ryan

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

Not the Plains, but I hope they don't go to Nashville on October 20^th.