Gameday Following Notre Dame to Oklahoma

Notre Dame will be playing at the featured site of ESPN’s College Gameday for the second time in three weeks this weekend the Gameday crew follows the Irish as they head to Norman, Oklahoma for the first time since 1966 for a showdown with #8 Oklahoma.

Two weeks ago, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso broadcast in front of Touchdown Jesus for their first trip to Notre Dame since 2005 when Stanford came to town with the Cardinal.  After ESPN’s latest trip to South Bend, Notre Dame is 9-12 for games in which ESPN has broadcast live from the site of one of their games.

Notre Dame has been featured on College Gameday multiple times in a single season four other teams – 1999, 2002, 2004, and 2006.  For a full history of Notre Dame’s appearances on College Gameday, be sure to check out our post from two week’s ago highlighting every single Notre Dame appearance on ESPN College Gameday.

Oklahoma, by the way, is an impressive 18-9 in games in which ESPN is on site including a record of 5-1 for home games at Owen Field.  That lone loss came in 1995 – their first appearance on Gameday – to Colorado.  Their most recent visit from ESPN came in 2008 when Oklahoma blew out Texas Tech 65-21 and the Sooners have most recently been on the show for last year’s Red River Rivalry.

Notre Dame has fared better at home when featured on Gameday with a 4-4 record in Notre Dame Stadium after the thrilling win over Stanford two weeks ago while the Irish are just 5-8 on the road.  Most of those games, however, came in season in which Notre Dame’s on field product didn’t really warrant being featured in games where Gameday should have been in town.  For instance, why was ESPN on hand for two games in both ’99 and ’04?  I mean, really?

Regardless, Notre Dame will look to win both games it has been on Gameday in the same season for just the second time.  In 2002, ESPN was on site for back to back road contests for Notre Dame in 2002 when they broadcast from Colorado Springs one weekend and followed that up by following the Irish to Tallahassee the next weekend.  Notre Dame won both of those games to improve to 8-0 on the season.   Hopefully Notre Dame can improve to 8-0 after ESPN’s second appearance for one of the Irish’s games again this year … and then obviously avoid the same fate that 2002 team after their second cameo on Gameday that season.

Gameday airs on Saturday at 9:00 on ESPNU before switching over to EPSN at 10:00.  You can also catch Gameday on ESPN3.com and with the Watch ESPN App if your cable/internet provider offers it.