Coming off its most-watched season in show history, ESPN College GameDay is on the road throughout the 12-team College Football Playoff providing on-site coverage ahead of pivotal matchups. Over the weekend, the show broadcast two episodes, including a Friday edition of the program from South Bend, Ind. before the first-round game between Notre Dame and Indiana. The crew then traveled to Columbus ahead of the Ohio State game against Tennessee for a three-hour show, during which analyst and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban ostensibly chastised the Buckeyes fanbase for not supporting the team.
On the Monday edition of the 97.1 The Fan weekday show Morning Juice, producer Mark Howell played audio of Saban seeming confounded about why the players on Ohio State would care about feedback from those on social media. There has been vocal disdain for head coach Ryan Day and his coaching staff, who has lost to rival Michigan for the past four seasons despite finishing the 2024 regular-season campaign with an 11-2 overall record. Saban is in the midst of his first season as an analyst for College GameDay and has received positive reviews from viewers as overall consumption of the program continues to proliferate.
Within his discourse, Saban articulated that if Ohio State wants to beat Michigan, it will require fans being positive about the coach and the players. On top of that, he said that Ohio State has an opportunity to win the National Championship and that everyone should be “supporting the hell out of them so they have the best opportunity to do it and quit all this negative bull****.” Saban was donning a fedora on the show, leading guest picker Shane Gillis to call him “Alabama Jones” on the show.
“Nick is great, and then the Alabama Jones comment,” Bobby Carpenter, co-host of Morning Juice on 97.1 The Fan, said on Monday. “GameDay is fun – it is fun again.”
“Yeah, it was fun, and Desmond [Howard] picked Ohio State to win on Saturday,” added co-host Brandon Beam. “Did you guys see that?”
Beam articulated that he did not expect Howard to pick Ohio State, but he ended up being correct as the team cruised to a first-round victory. ESPN College GameDay continues its playoff slate of shows from the Rose Bowl when Ohio State faces Oregon in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Jan. 1. Following this three-hour show, the program will travel to the Capital One Orange Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and CFP National Championship Game. For the regular season, College GameDay averaged 2.2 million viewers per show, indicative of a 6% year-over-year increase, and also secured three of its six most-watched episodes since 2013.
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