‘College GameDay’ heading to Baton Rouge for Lane Kiffin’s debut

Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

College GameDay has found its Week 1 destination, and it is a pretty obvious one.

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, ESPN’s traveling pregame show is set for Baton Rouge on Sept. 5 for LSU-Clemson, which marks Lane Kiffin’s first game as head coach of the Tigers. Broadcast details have not been confirmed, but it’s difficult to envision this not being a night game with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call for ABC. ESPN’s top announcing duo called last year’s Week 1 game in Clemson after spending the morning in Columbus for Lee Corso’s final show.

This version of GameDay doesn’t have a farewell to anchor it, nor does it have a matchup that rivals Texas-Ohio State for sheer magnitude. What it has is Lane Kiffin, which has historically been more than enough.

Kiffin’s path to Baton Rouge was a slow-motion wreck that swallowed college football whole for the better part of a month, and GameDay found itself at the center of it. He left Ole Miss two days after the Egg Bowl with the Rebels having just clinched their first College Football Playoff berth in program history, then in a dispute with athletic director Keith Carter over whether he would be permitted to finish the season he had built.