ESPN's "College GameDay" is headed to the Big Ten for Week 9 of the 2026 college football season.
Host Rece Davis, Alabama football legend Nick Saban and fellow analysts Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Kirk Herbstreit will be in Bloomington for a matchup between the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium.
Curt Cignetti's Hoosiers (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) are No. 4 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25. Minnesota (5-2, 3-1) is unranked, but coach P.J. Fleck's Gophers are coming off a 13-10 upset win over the Iowa Hawkeyes and received 35 votes for top-25 consideration in the Coaches Poll.
Indiana survived in a 13-6 overtime win at Michigan in Week 8 and trail only the UCLA Bruins (7-0, 5-0)
and Ohio State Buckeyes (6-1, 4-0) in the Big Ten standings.
It's the second time in program history Indiana football has hosted GameDay, which visited Bloomington for the first time on Oct. 26, 2024, when the Hoosiers beat the Washington Huskies.
GameDay's visit to Bloomington is a bit overdue. ESPN's announcement is less than two weeks after ESPN angered many fans by choosing Provo, Utah, and the top-10 clash between Notre Dame and the BYU Cougars for its Week 7 destination instead of Indiana and its top-five heavyweight clash against Ohio State.
Week 9 presented something of a difficult choice for ESPN, a network that is going to upset one fan base or another on virtually any given week. Only two ranked vs. ranked matchups are on the schedule in Week 9.
The third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs (6-1) face the 17th-ranked Florida Gators (5-2), but the rivalry is being played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta this year instead of Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium due to renovations underway. If GameDay plans to attends the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, as it has the past three years, that could have factored into its decision for Week 9.
In the Big 12, No. 13 Texas Tech (6-1) hosts No. 21 Arizona (6-1). The Red Raiders may have hurt their chances of hosting GameDay with their 37-24 loss at Cincinnati in Week 8. And ESPN's crew visited Lubbock as recently as November 2025 while Bloomington went without a visit from GameDay last year.
Kickoff for Minnesota-Indiana is 2:30 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on CBS.
"College GameDay" on ESPN begins at 8 a.m. CT each week.
Alabama football schedule 2026
USA TODAY Sports offers bold prediction for Alabama football, CFP race
— Roll Tide Wire (@RollTideWire) October 27, 2026
📸 David Leong, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect https://t.co/LNgNTRQQ1Y pic.twitter.com/dadu1mVH1W
Alabama (6-2, 4-2 SEC) has a bye in Week 9 of the 2026 college football season. The Crimson Tide face the LSU Tigers (6-2, 3-2) at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Nov. 7. Kickoff for Alabama-LSU is 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.
Alabama is No. 10 in the Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25. LSU is No. 13 in the Coaches Poll and No. 15 in the AP Top 25.
All times Central.
- Sept. 5: vs. East Carolina Pirates (W, 48-10)
- Sept. 12: at Kentucky Wildcats (W, 45-17)
- Sept. 19: vs. Florida State Seminoles (W, 50-36)
- Sept. 26: vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (W, 49-18)
- Oct. 3: at Mississippi State Bulldogs (W, 56-23)
- Oct. 10: vs. Georgia Bulldogs (L, 20-17)
- Oct. 17: at Tennessee Volunteers (L, 26-10)
- Oct. 24: vs. Texas A&M Aggies (W, 31-20)
- Nov. 7: at LSU Tigers, 2:30 p.m., ABC
- Nov. 14: at Vanderbilt Commodores, TBA
- Nov. 21: vs. Chattanooga Mocs, 1 p.m., SEC Network+
- Nov. 28: vs. Auburn Tigers, TBA
Record: 6-2 overall, 4-2 SEC.
Contact us at @RollTideWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama Crimson Tide news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: 'College GameDay' announces Week 9 location, making difficult decision
