ESPN College GameDay will bring its weekly college football national pregame show to the City of Brotherly Love Oct. 31 as No. 21/22 Temple hosts No. 9/9 Notre Dame. This prime time Halloween matchup at 8 p.m. on ABC will be the first meeting between two nationally ranked college football teams in Philadelphia history.
The show will originate from Independence Mall, one of the most iconic and historical places in Philadelphia and home of the Liberty Bell.
"Having ESPN College GameDay come to Philadelphia is tremendous not only for Temple Football, but for the University as a whole as well as the city of Philadelphia," said Director of Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft. "The exposure will shine a light on all of the great things happening at Temple, not just the success of our nationally-ranked football program. People around the country will get to learn why Temple is one of the hottest universities in the nation, and that Philadelphia is one of the greatest cities in the country."
College GameDay, which typically attracts thousands of fans to the live production, will air on ESPN from 9:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The show reviews major news topics in college football, previews the significant national games of the day and ends with Lee Corso's headgear prediction prior to games kicking off around the country.
ESPN personalities typically on the show include host Rece Davis along with Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Samantha Ponder.
Temple heads into the 8 p.m. game at 7-0 overall, the best record to start a season in school history. The Owls are coming off a 24-14 come-from-behind victory at East Carolina in a prime time battle between American Athletic Conference foes.
Notre Dame (6-1) comes to Philadelphia for the first time. The Fighting Irish are coming off a bye following a 41-31 victory over USC on October 17. This season they are 1-1 on the road with a 34-27 win at Virginia and a 24-22 loss at #3/6 Clemson.
In the only previous meeting between the two teams, Notre Dame spoiled Matt Rhule’s head coaching debut on August 27, 2013, with a 28-6 win. Rhule, who has led Temple to 14 wins over the last 20 games, has a chance to improve his career record to .500 with a win.
Temple announced a sellout of the game on October 13 before kickoff time was announced. The crowd for kickoff will exceed 69,000.
More details will be shared on
owlsports.com related to attending College GameDay, location details, creating signs and other fan activities as they become available.
To date in 2015, College GameDay has visited Arlington, Texas for the AdvoCare Classic between Alabama and Wisconsin followed by campus venues at Michigan State, Alabama, Arizona, Clemson, Utah, Michigan, and James Madison.
College GameDay Fun Facts:
-Temple will be the 66th different school to host the show. The previous 65 are 40-25 in their GameDay debut home game.
-Philadelphia is the 74th different city the show has visited. Temple is the 82nd different team to be represented at a GameDay site game.