ESPN College GameDay Headed to Alabama vs. Wisconsin for Week 1
College football returns in less than five weeks, and now fans know where the game's most popular pregame show is headed to open the 2015 slate—back to the Cowboys Classic for Wisconsin and Alabama.
ESPN announced Monday it will host College GameDay at the Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards for the Sept. 5 neutral-site matchup between Alabama and Wisconsin at Arlington's AT&T Stadium.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
The announcement came during an event at Atlanta's College Football Hall of Fame.
College GameDay opened the 2014 season at the same venue last season, when defending national champion Florida State played Oklahoma State in the Cowboys Classic. The Seminoles held off a strong second-half push by the Cowboys to avoid the upset and earn the 37-31 victory.
The show has picked the Cowboys Classic for its first marquee game of the season four of the last five seasons. GameDay was also there for Oregon-LSU in 2011 and Michigan-Alabama in 2012.
The 2015 season-opening edition of College GameDay will be Rece Davis' debut as a host. The studio host and play-by-play man is replacing longtime voice Chris Fowler this year.
According to the Amway preseason coaches poll, which was released last week by USA Today, both Alabama and Wisconsin are Top 20 programs heading into the season.
Alabama is No. 3 in the preseason poll after a 12-2 season in which the Tide won the SEC and earned a spot in the first-ever College Football Playoff.
Wisconsin, now under new head coach Paul Chryst, went 11-3 last season with a Big Ten West crown and an overtime Outback Bowl victory over Auburn.
The Crimson Tide are currently 10.5-point favorites to beat the Badgers, according to Odds Shark, but several of Wisconsin's players are confident they could pull off the upset this year.
"Who's to say we can't beat Alabama?" running back Corey Clement told Brian Bennett of ESPN.com during Big Ten media days last week. "They proved they can be beat. This conference can play with the best of them. I think [Ohio State's Sugar Bowl win] kind of gave Alabama a wake-up call."
The game will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised by ABC.
Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
