Christian Wilkins named guest picker for ESPN College Gameday
Former Clemson Tiger star Christian Wilkins has been named as the guest picker for No. 5 Clemson’s matchup with NC State tomorrow evening. The Miami Dolphins captain had a game last night against the Cincinnati Bengals and will be available on Saturday to be on set with the College Gameday crew.
Here is some additional information about the events taking place tomorrow.
- ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot travels to Clemson, S.C., for Week 5 and the eighth trip to the school. The show’s 427th road show will be live from 9 a.m. – noon ET (ESPN and ESPNU, ESPN App) on Saturday, Oct. 1, ahead of the Tigers’ top-10 match up with ACC rival and No. 10 NC State.
- Rece Davis leads the show in his eighth season as host and is joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Pat McAfee and David Pollack. Reporters Jen Lada, Gene Wojciechowski and newcomer Jess Sims, along with research producer Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica and college football insider Pete Thamel, round out the GameDay crew for the season.
Scheduled Features & Highlights
Playing For Ella – For the last 18 months, every time Clemson All-American defensive tackle Bryan Bresee took the field, he played for his younger sister Ella – a 15-year-old who faced a devastating brain cancer diagnosis. Ella fought with the same fervor that she demonstrated with every challenge that came her way. Last weekend, just days after Ella’s funeral, Bresee returned to the field and continued to honor his sister the best way he knew how. (Reporter: Jen Lada)
We’re Not Kansas Anymore – For years…decades, Kansas has walked aimlessly in the college football desert. Picked to finish last (again) in the Big 12, the Jayhawks and their second-year coach are surprising everyone – a campus, a town, a nation – except themselves. (Reporter: Gene Wojciechowski – a native of Salina, Kansas)
They’ve Got The Juice – He has his own dedicated camera on game day, a Twitter account with over 25,000 followers and a growing presence on the Ole Miss campus. Meet the unofficial ambassador of Ole Miss football, Juice Kiffin, head coach Lane Kiffin’s six-month-old golden English lab.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will join the GameDay crew during the show along with a live check in from Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck in the latest edition of ‘Live WIRED’ ahead of their respective games.
Corso’s Count
- Lee Corso has correctly guessed every headgear pick of the season. This week will be his 389th overall pick
- Clemson has been picked 14 times by Corso and he’s 11-3 in those picks
- Corso has also picked against Clemson 14 times and is 7-7 in those games, including correctly picking their last three loss picks
- This will be the second GameDay that NC State has been involved in, the last being a 2004 loss to Miami
- College GameDay had another week of year-over-year viewership growth at Tennessee, averaging 1.9 million viewers, a 21% increase over 2021’s Week 4 show. The premier pregame show is on pace for its most-viewed season since 2010 and the second-best season ever.
ESPN’s Expanded Digital Coverage
ESPN’s social and digital pre-pregame show, Countdown to GameDay Live, continues its season with the Week 5 visit to Clemson. Co-hosts Christine Williamson, Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr. will be live from campus on Oct. 1 at 8:30 a.m. ET. The show is available across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
On-Site Fan Updates
The ‘pit’ viewing area at Bowman Field for this week’s College GameDay will open at 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday for selected Clemson students. Early arrival campouts are discouraged due to the impending weather.