College GameDay is staying in the Beehive State for another week.
After hosting a Week 7 thriller between BYU and Notre Dame, the iconic pregame show will travel 45 miles north to Salt Lake City to another Big 12 campus.
No. 10 Utah vs. No. 14 Houston was selected as the show’s featured Week 8 matchup.
This marks the second consecutive season Salt Lake City has hosted GameDay, also doing so for last season’s ranked matchup between Utah and Cincinnati. On that day, Nov. 1, 2025, the No. 24 Utes decisively
handled the No. 17 Bearcats 45-14.
Oct. 24 will be the seventh time Utah has hosted College GameDay and the second time as a member of the Big 12. The Utes posted a 3-3 record in their previous six matchups:
- 2004 vs. BYU (won 52-21)
- 2010 vs. TCU (lost 47-7)
- 2015 vs. California (won 30-24)
- 2016 vs. Washington (lost 31-24)
- 2023 vs. Oregon (lost 35-6)
- 2025 vs. Cincinnati (won 45-14)
The Week 8 College GameDay episode will be Houston’s first as a visiting team. The Cougars only made one previous GameDay appearance, hosting the show prior to a 2011 matchup against SMU. Houston’s previous GameDay appearance produced one of the show’s most famous moments, as former panelist Lee Corso unexpectedly dropped an expletive live on air prior to donning the Shasta mascot head — sending the entire crew into laughter.
Houston’s road trip to Utah is the first Big 12 conference matchup GameDay has featured in 2026. The show hosted back-to-back Big 12 matchups last November — Cincinnati at Utah on Nov. 1 and BYU at Texas Tech on Nov. 8.
Utah enters the matchup riding the nation’s longest win streak at 12. The Utes earned that designation in Week 7 after escaping Colorado 27-24, hours after Indiana’s 22-game win streak was snapped against Ohio State. Utah — one of six remaining undefeated teams in the country — is now ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll, which ties its highest ranking since 2023. Meanwhile, at No. 14, Houston boasts its highest ranking since 2016.
Houston leads the all-time series over Utah, 5-0, with wins in 1966, 1971, 1977, 1978, and 2024.
The last four GameDays in Salt Lake City were held at Presidents Circle on the campus of University of Utah. The show will air on ESPN from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET, or 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. MT. That anticipation for this high-stakes matchup will sustain for an entire day, as the matchup between No. 14 Houston and No. 10 Utah kicks off at 10:15 p.m. ET, or 8:15 p.m. MT, on ESPN.
