College GameDay reveals location for Lee Corso's final show

It is decided. ESPN will be making the trek to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 30 for Week 1 of the 2025-26 college football season. Yes, College GameDay will be at the site of arguably the biggest game of the weekend when the Texas Longhorns come to town to face the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in The Horseshoe. This will also be Lee Corso's final appearance.

Corso has been with the show since its beginning. He made his first headgear selection at Ohio State, one where he donned the Brutus Buckeye mascot head to signify an Ohio State pre-game victory pick way back on Oct. 5, 1996. Corso will be retiring from broadcasting after this game, shortly after turning 90 years old on Aug. 7. For sentimental reasons, I understand why GameDay is heading there.

It should be noted that Texas at Ohio State will not be airing on ESPN. FOX will have the broadcasting rights to this major non-conference game. Thus, its pre-game show Big Noon Kickoff will also be in Columbus. This may be a way for all parties involved to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to pay their respects to Corso for what he has meant to the game. I hope that this is why it is happening.

Try to hold back the tears, as Corso will be heading to Columbus one last time for College GameDay.

There were other notable games to be had in Week 1, but is ESPN doing the right thing going here?

College GameDay heading to Ohio State for Lee Corso's final show in Week 1

Yes, there were other GameDay location options to be had. The two most notable other candidates were LSU at Clemson, which is a primetime kick on ABC, and Alabama at Florida State, which is a mid-afternoon kick on ABC as well. LSU at Clemson is ESPN's biggest game of the weekend. Florida State is Corso's alma mater and is not terribly far from where he lives and grew up in and around Florida.

That being said, College GameDay never has been and never will be driven by fear. If there is a big game of note, they are coming to your city! While it may not make the most sense financially to be promoting a rival network's featured game, keep in mind that Big Noon Kickoff never goes to a non-FOX gameday location. It is why one show has had staying power, while the other is on the come-up.

I think had it been any other situation, ESPN may have made it a point to go to Clemson instead to really hype up their biggest game of note for the weekend. Then again, we have to ask ourselves one thing and one thing only: What game would Corso want to go to? He would want to go to the biggest game of the weekend. That one happens to be in Columbus featured on a rival network. So what?

If there ever was a location for Corso to go out on top, it would be in Columbus in a game like this.