No. 5 Miami vs No. 18 USF snubbed by ESPN's College Gameday

Despite a top-five vs. top-20 showdown at Hard Rock Stadium, ESPN’s College GameDay won’t be in South Florida this weekend. The pregame show announced it will go to Knoxville for No. 6 Georgia at No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday instead — bypassing No. 5 Miami vs. No. 18 USF in a ranked in-state clash set for 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW.

From Miami's perspective, the snub stings because they might not get the opportunity again this season. The latest AP Top 25 kept Miami at No. 5 and vaulted USF to No. 18 after the Bulls followed a 34–7 win over No. 25 Boise State with an 18–16 upset at No. 13 Florida — a two-week run that pushed USF into the poll for the first time since 2018. Miami, meanwhile, opened with a 27–24 win over then-No. 6 Notre Dame and a 45–3 rout of Bethune-Cookman. This is also the only time both teams have played each other and been ranked at the same time.

There are understandable reasons GameDay chose Knoxville, though. Georgia vs Tennessee pairs two blueblood brands in a traditional SEC setting and also airs in ABC’s marquee 3:30 p.m. window with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call. In contrast, Miami vs USF sits on The CW, outside ESPN/ABC’s rights this week. GameDay has gone off-network before, but Week 3’s choice might have been too perfect for ESPN to pass up.

But even with the network aspect, it’s still a missed exposure opportunity for a uniquely important Miami vs USF matchup. Not to mention, Miami has shown it still has a major national draw. Notre Dame vs Miami drew 10.8 million viewers in Week 1 which was ABC’s second-best Sunday opener on record and the No. 2 audience of the weekend. GameDay itself just set an all-time audience high for Week 1 (4.0M) as well. But the aura is lost when they choose to go to the same places every year.

In 2022, College GameDay went for the same Tennessee vs Georgia matchup (although it was in Athens) and actually went to Knoxville twice that year. The Volunteers were the away team in three College GameDay shows last season and Georgia was featured in three. Miami hasn't hosted since 2020 against Florida State.