College football is BACK… but ESPN’s College GameDay is not.
Fans of football waited a long, long time to see gridiron glory return. Today, a slate of college games marks the official start of the football season. In the past, this week has been called “Week 0,” since not all programs get started today. But for some reason, the schedule makers have opted to drop the “Week 0” branding this year in lieu of just calling these early games “Week 1.”
That’s pretty boring if you ask me.
Regardless, it’s wonderful that college football is back. Soon we’ll all be rotting away on our couches on Saturdays and Sundays, consuming an inordinate amount of calories and deleting a concerning amount of beers. It’s a tradition unlike any other, and the tradition that usually kicks off that tradition is turning on ESPN and taking in the lovely program known as College GameDay.
Traditionally hosted by Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and the great Lee Corso, and recently benefiting from the addition of Nick Saban and Pat McAfee, it’s simply must-watch television on Saturday mornings in the fall. But on this opening day of the 2025 college football season, it’s nowhere to be found.
It’s as if Lee Corso uttered his famous line to all college football fans getting up this morning and looking for College GameDay on their television screens:
“NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND.”
The first game of the season is a ranked matchup between No. 22 Iowa State and No. 17 Kansas State, and it’s being played in Ireland. Last year when the first game was played in Ireland, the College GameDay crew was there. This year? They decided to not officially get started until next weekend when Texas goes on the road to play Ohio State. It’s a travesty.
Many are assuming that they decided to hold off because Lee Corso is set to appear in the first College GameDay show of the season before effectively retiring. There’s no doubt that tears will be shed when Corso puts on the headgear for the last time, and it appears that they didn’t want to waste that culmination on the slate of Week 0 games. I guess that’s understandable?
However, they could have just… went on without Corso this week, and hyped up that next week would be the legendary coach and analyst’s final show? I don’t see anything wrong with that, and it would have given college football fans their GameDay fix. We only get so many College GameDay shows a year anyways… feels wrong to rob fans of a Week 0 show (I’m still going to call it Week 0).
In ESPN’s defense, they did roll out something called “College Football Countdown,” but it wasn’t the same. All it really was? A reminder that College GameDay wasn’t happening this week, and that devastated college football fans:
There’s no College GameDay this morning and I feel betrayed
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) August 23, 2025
woke up at 7:30 because I thought College Gameday would be on pic.twitter.com/dwaaWFrx0Q
— Calvin Applebottom (@MaroonKoolAid_) August 23, 2025
Whoever decided that College Gameday shouldn’t start until next week should be sentenced to life without parole
— Probably at DC’s (@WhyWeDrinkHere) August 23, 2025
No college gameday put me in my feels: pic.twitter.com/WO4W5WzS4K
— College Football Alerts (@CFBAlerts_) August 23, 2025
College Gameday from Ireland at the top o’ the mornin would have went unbelievably hard.
— 🏈 emily🌲 (@emilyofeasttx) August 23, 2025
First weekend of College Football and no Gameday on my TV screen?? pic.twitter.com/Awu41YiJMj
— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) August 23, 2025
No College Gameday today?! What has this world become
— Cade Webb (@cadewebb) August 23, 2025
