ESPN 'College GameDay' to broadcast from Ayres Hall before Tennessee football vs Alabama
The Ayres Hall lawn will once again be packed Saturday morning for ESPN's "College GameDay" before Tennessee football faces Alabama.
ESPN announced the location Wednesday after the announcement Sunday that its flagship college football pregame show was returning to Knoxville for the second time this season. Both No. 8 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0 SEC) and No. 1 Alabama (6-0, 3-0) go into the matchup Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) undefeated for the first time since 1989.
"College GameDay" was also at Tennessee at Ayres Hall on Sept. 24 to preview the Florida game, and this will be the first time since 2002 UT has hosted the show twice in a season. Saturday will be the first time the show has been in Knoxville for the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry – the only other time it coincided with the matchup was 1995 in Birmingham.
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The show will air Saturday on ESPN from 9 a.m. to noon from the Ayres Hall lawn. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel will make anappearance around 10:30. Rece Davis hosts "College GameDay" and will be joined by analysts Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, David Pollack and Pat McAfee.
SEC Network's weekly traveling pregame show "SEC Nation" will also be broadcast from Tennessee for the "Third Saturday in October."
Laura Rutledge will host the show from the east ramp of Thompson-Boling Arena from 10 a.m. to noon. She will be joined by UT alum Paul Finebaum, Roman Harper, Jordan Rodgers and Tim Tebow.
Friday will also be full of broadcasts from Tennessee. The "Paul Finebaum Show" will air from the east ramp of Thompson-Boling Arena from 3-7 p.m., while Ayres Hall will have the "Pat McAfee Show" from 1-2 p.m. and then "College Football Live" from 3-3:30 p.m.
Saturday marks the 11th time "College GameDay" has come to Knoxville. Tennessee has a 3-5 record in SEC home games with "College GameDay" present and has won two straight. It beat Florida in Week 4 after beating Florida 38-28 in 2016.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee-Alabama football: ESPN 'College GameDay' at Ayres Hall
