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          Big Ten Blog

          Aaron Rodgers has a blast on College GameDay -- and picks the Badgers

          • Jason Wilde, ESPN.comSep 3, 2016, 05:15 PM ET
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            • Covered the Packers since 1996
            • On-air host at ESPN Milwaukee and ESPN Madison
            • Two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
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          GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Whenever Aaron Rodgers calls it a career -- he's said he wants to play anywhere from six to eight more NFL seasons -- the Green Bay Packers quarterback might want to consider applying for a spot on the panel of ESPN's College GameDay.

          He may have to dress up a bit more -- the two-time NFL MVP was clad in a plain white T-shirt for his appearance Saturday morning in front of Lambeau Field in advance of the Wisconsin-LSU game being played there -- but he certainly was prepared, funny and at ease while joining Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and fellow Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard on stage.

          He even got to wear an Olympic gold medal while he was there.

          Serving as the guest picker, Rodgers was, predictably, the only member of the panel to pick the underdog Badgers, and later gave Corso a big thumbs down after Corso donned a Cheesehead-topped Tigers head during his selection.

          "I read somewhere that GameDay has been at five games between the Big Ten and the SEC, and the SEC is 5-0," Rodgers said. "Well, streaks are made to be broken. On Wisconsin -- Wisconsin, big upset today!"

          Before his on-air session, Rodgers talked to Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, who also appeared on the set earlier in the show.

          Rodgers took the stage to chants of "MVP! MVP" from the large crowd spilling onto Oneida Street and told Corso that he'd watched him growing up. "I've been a college football fan for a long time," Rodgers said when Corso took faux offense.

          Rodgers' first pick was that Texas will beat Notre Dame on Sunday night, saying, "I love the underdog, and also Mack Brown's not there anymore, so I can pick Texas again."

          Where'd that come from? In Rodgers' final season at California in 2004, Brown publicly lobbied voters to give Texas the final at-large BCS berth in the Rose Bowl, even though both Cal and Texas finished the season with one loss and the Golden Bears were ranked ahead of the Longhorns entering the regular-season finales for both teams.

          Rodgers, who knows a thing or two about holding grudges and carrying a chip on his shoulder, never forgot that.

          After picking that game, Rodgers then took Florida State to beat Ole Miss on Monday night because he "grew up a humongous Florida State fan, watching Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke."

          Rodgers then went into name-dropping mode, picking Georgia to beat North Carolina because the Tar Heels' former starting quarterback, Marquise Williams, was in camp with the Packers this summer. Williams was among the Packers' cuts Saturday morning.

          Rodgers had high praise for Clemson's Deshaun Watson, calling him "the frontrunner for the Heisman" and "special" while picking the Tigers to win.

          Rodgers picked Oklahoma to beat Houston for a simple reason: It's his girlfriend Olivia Munn's alma mater ("Olivia went to Oklahoma, so I have to choose Oklahoma").

          Rodgers also picked UCLA to beat Texas A&M in honor of Bruins QB Josh Rosen's mustache; took BYU to beat Arizona in honor of ex-Packers teammate Brady Poppinga; and took Alabama to beat USC, in part because Rodgers has two ex-Crimson Tide players as teammates (Eddie Lacy, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix) and in part because he believes Cal should have won the 2004 Pac-10 title after USC eventually had to vacate its national championship for its violations of NCAA rules.

          "I can't pick USC," Rodgers said with a smirk.