ESPN College GameDay Headed to Columbia, S.C., for South Carolina vs. Missouri

ESPN's College GameDay is making its first trip of the season to SEC country, where it will watch South Carolina host Missouri in Week 5.

Even after the Gamecocks' Week 1 loss against Texas A&M and the Tigers' Week 4 loss against Indiana, Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and the rest of the crew will be in Columbia, South Carolina, to watch a rematch of one of last year's craziest games.

The show's official Twitter account confirmed the news Sunday:

Last season—when this game was played in the other Columbia—Missouri took a 17-0 lead into the fourth quarter. It shut down Gamecocks' quarterback Dylan Thompson, who was playing for an injured Connor Shaw, and looked to be on track to remain undefeated.

But then, in a shocking twist of fate, Shaw entered the game on a sprained knee and led South Carolina to 17 fourth-quarter points. Tied at 17, the game went to overtime, and tied at 24, it went to double overtime. But after a South Carolina field goal in that second frame, Missouri kicker Andrew Baggett missed a 24-yard field goal off the left upright, sealing the Gamecocks' victory, 27-24.

Both of last year's starting quarterbacks—Thompson and Missouri's Maty Mauk—were playing in place of an injured senior starter. Both were regarded among the best backup QBs in college football last season, and both are regarded among the top half of SEC QBs in 2014.

Mauk completed only 10-of-25 passes in last year's game, but those 10 completions went for 249 yards, one touchdown and one interception. "I think he did some really, really good things and a lot of little things he needs to do to get better," Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel said after the game, according to quotes released by the school. "Overall he battled and we will improve and I think he will be a really good player."

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Since both of these teams have suffered an embarrassing defeat on their home field this season, one might think this an odd choice for a GameDay location.

However, that might actually raise the stakes.

Whichever team wins this game will advance to 4-1 and control its own fate in the SEC East. Whichever team loses will fall to 3-2 and be pinned against a wall.

Considering these teams combined to go 23-4 in 2013, watching either fall to 3-2 on the season would be a minor shock.

Other big games next week include UCLA at Arizona State—which could not be a GameDay site because it's being played on Thursday—Tennessee at Georgia and Stanford at Washington. But the crew has already seen Stanford play once this season, having traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., when the Cardinal lost to USC in Week 2. 

Given the options, this feels like the correct choice.