ESPN announces College Gameday destination for final Lee Corso show

Lee Corso started his College GameDay road shows at Ohio State and is set to close his career there with Texas in town to start the season. (Photo: Nathan Seeback / Imagn Images)

Press Release · Tuesday, June 10 2025

ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will kick off the 2025 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 30, in Columbus, Ohio, before the National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes host the Texas Longhorns in a College Football Playoff Semifinal rematch. The three-hour show (9 a.m. ET, ESPN and ESPNU) will be live from outside St. John Arena on Ohio State’s campus to start GameDay’s 39th season – the unofficial start to college football Saturdays each week.

Announced earlier this year, Lee Corso, the legendary ESPN broadcaster who created the iconic headgear pick that caps each College GameDay show, will finish his illustrious career with a final pick at the Week 1 stop at OSU. Corso, who turns 90 in August, has been a part of college football’s premier pregame show since it debuted in 1987, and his very first headgear pick – when he donned Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye mascot head – happened in Columbus on October 5, 1996. Corso’s weekly end-of-show pick during GameDay’s Saturday Selections has become a college football tradition, surprising and delighting fans for nearly three decades. Entering his final telecast in August, Corso has made 430 headgear picks all-time, including his picking the Buckeyes a record 45 times.

Special programming honoring and celebrating Corso’s career will be present throughout the Week 1 show in addition to the GameDay crew previewing the 2025 season and all the action of the kickoff Saturday slate. The season-opening episode will be located in its traditional spot on Ohio State’s campus before finishing the show inside ‘The Shoe’ where Corso will make his final headgear pick in front of 100,000 fans ahead of the Buckeyes’ noon kick.

The visit to Ohio State marks the 26th time the Buckeyes will host College GameDay, extending their own record for the most by any program, and will be the first time since 2014 that the reigning National Champions will be featured on the first GameDay road show of the season. Ohio State has a 45-21 record when appearing on the pregame show and is 19-6 when hosting College GameDay. Overall, this will be the fifth meeting all-time between Texas and Ohio State on the program, with the series tied 2-2.

College GameDay is coming off an historic season as the 2024 year delivered its most-watched regular season ever, averaging 2.2 million viewers, and was recognized with its 10th Sports Emmy for best weekly studio show.

Additional details about College GameDay’s 2025 road shows, talent roster and Week 1 guests and specifics will be announced closer to the start of the college football season.