College GameDay Headed to Bristol Speedway for Week 2

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College GameDay Headed to Bristol Speedway for Week 2

Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter September 7, 2016
Green Bay, WI - September 3, 2016 - Lambeau Field: NASCAR car on the set of College GameDay Built by the Home Depot

Downloadable ESPN Images of College GameDay: http://bit.ly/GameDayPics

First Time Show Opens Season with two Neutral-Site Stops

ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot – college football’s longest-running and most-celebrated pregame show – will originate from Bristol Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., on Saturday, Sept. 10, in advance of the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol showcasing the neutral-site matchup of Virginia Tech and No. 17 Tennessee (ABC, 8 p.m. ET). The weekly show airs from 9 a.m.-noon on ESPN and will be located in the Earnhardt East Parking Lot.

The six-time Emmy Award-winning show  is hosted by Rece Davis, who is joined by analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack, as well as contributors Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica, Jen Lada, Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, George Whitfield and Gene Wojciechowski.

Davis, Herbstreit and Ponder will be on the call of the game. ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch and Marty Smith, who were part of the network’s long-time NASCAR coverage, will be on site to provide additional coverage across ESPN platforms.

Live SportsCenter hits will take place from the set throughout the day on Friday, as well as College Football Live with Ponder, Howard and Pollack (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Corso Facts:
Corso began making his entertaining end-of-show headgear pick of the team he thinks will win the game at the GameDay site, marking 20 years this season. Week 2 will be headgear number 278 for Corso, as he is 183-94 all-time in headgear picks. The phenomenon began on October 5, 1996, prior to the Ohio State-Penn State game in Columbus, Ohio when he put on OSU’s “Brutus Buckeye” mascot head to show his pick to win the game – watch here.

  • After a 6-12 mark last year in headgear picks, Corso lost his opening-week game this year. It marked the second time in the last eight shows that a double-digit favorite lost outright (Ohio State vs. Michigan State the other).
  • Week 2 hasn’t been kind to Corso lately either, as he has lost three of his last four picks.
  • Corso has picked Tennessee four times and is 2-2 in those four picks. He has picked against the Vols ten times and is 7-3 in those ten picks.
  • He has picked Virginia Tech four times and is 4-0 in those four picks. He has picked against Virginia Tech six times and has been right all six times. So he’s never missed a pick involving Virginia Tech, going a perfect 10-for-10.

‘The Bear’ College GameDay Week 1 Fun Facts:

  • First time the show has opened the season with neutral site shows in each of the first two weeks of the season.
  • This is the first time a Butch Jones coached team or a Justin Fuente coached team is involved in the game from which GameDay The last time a Power 5 game saw that was October 26, 2013 when Mark Helfrich (Oregon) and Jim Mora (UCLA) squared off in Eugene.
  • This is the 10th time show will originate from the state of Tennessee. Eight of the previous nine shows originated in Knoxville, with the other instance was in Nashville.
  • The last time the show was in the in state of Tennessee was Sept. 15, 2012, for the Tennessee vs. Florida game (37-20 Florida win).
  • First time since September 5, 2009 Virginia Tech has been involved in the game from which GameDay will originate.
  • Bristol, Tenn., will be the 75th different city from which GameDay will originate.
  • This is the 311th road show. The last time an in-season edition of College GameDay originated from Bristol, Conn., was December 2, 2006. 153 road shows have taken place since then (this will be 154).
  • The Hokies have been involved in ten road shows and are 4-6 in those ten games. This is the 19th road show the Vols have been a part of and they are 7-11 in those previous 18 games.

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Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal Rachel Margolis Siegal Follow on Twitter September 7, 2016
Photo of Rachel Margolis Siegal

Rachel Margolis Siegal

A part of the Internal Communications team at ESPN, I began with the network in 2010 as part of the College Sports PR team. Always an avid sports fan and not an athlete – I grew up a huge fan of the Hartford Whalers, while also watching my brother compete at different levels. I became the manager of several high school sports teams and continued that hobby into college. While at Quinnipiac, I worked in the Sports Information Department, which led me to a summer internship at the New Haven Ravens, a AA baseball team, and an eventual job with the Athletic Communications Department at the University of Connecticut. After my five-year stint at Connecticut, I spent six years as Director of Communications at the BIG EAST Conference in Providence, R.I. before joining ESPN.
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