ESPN College Gameday 2021: Week 4 Location Hosts, TV Schedule and Predictions

Notre Dame has gotten off to a strong start in 2021, winning each of its first three games, but its schedule is about to get a lot more challenging.

That begins Saturday, when the No. 12-ranked Fighting Irish take on No. 18 Wisconsin at Soldier Field in Chicago. The neutral-site clash should be among the best matchups of Week 4. The Badgers have a difficult schedule of their own in the Big Ten, and this non-conference contest merely adds to it.

With this being one of two Week 4 games featuring a pair of ranked teams, it's no surprise that ESPN's College GameDay is heading to Chicago for the matchup. The popular college football kickoff show will air live from outside of Soldier Field beginning at 9 a.m. ET.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into Week 4 of the college football season.

Week 4 Top 25 Schedule, Predictions

Friday, Sept. 24

UNLV at No. 22 Fresno State, 10 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network

Saturday, Sept. 25

No. 2 Georgia at Vanderbilt, noon ET, SEC Network

Villanova at No. 6 Penn State, noon ET, Big Ten Network

No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 18 Wisconsin, noon ET, Fox

UMass at No. 17 Coastal Carolina, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Colorado State at No. 5 Iowa, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

No. 7 Texas A&M at No. 16 Arkansas, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS

No. 9 Clemson at NC State, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

No. 14 Iowa State at Baylor, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox

Rutgers at No. 19 Michigan, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Georgia State at No. 23 Auburn, 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network

No. 24 UCLA at Stanford, 6 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

Tennessee at No. 11 Florida, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Nebraska at No. 20 Michigan State, 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

No. 25 Kansas State at Oklahoma State, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN+

Southern Miss at No. 1 Alabama, 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network

West Virginia at No. 4 Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Akron at No. 10 Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network

No. 21 North Carolina at Georgia Tech, 7:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network

South Florida at No. 15 BYU, 10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Arizona at No. 3 Oregon, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

Picks in bold

Week 4 Preview

It's been a long time since Notre Dame and Wisconsin have faced off in football. The Fighting Irish beat the Badgers on Sept. 26, 1964, taking an 8-6-2 lead in the all-time series between the two programs.

Nearly 57 years since that previous meeting, Notre Dame and Wisconsin will finally play again. And it should be an exciting matchup between two programs that have been successful in recent years. But it may be a more important game for the Badgers, who have already lost once this season.

Wisconsin began the 2021 campaign with a challenging home matchup against Big Ten rival Penn State, and the Nittany Lions came away with a 16-10 win. The Badgers bounced back by beating Eastern Michigan 34-7 at home, and then they didn't play last week.

With extra time to prepare before taking on Notre Dame in Chicago, Wisconsin will look to notch a win over a ranked team before returning home to face another (No. 19 Michigan) next week.

"That's what's kind of fun about the game, is each week it's going to be a different challenge, and certainly we'll be challenged this week," Badgers head coach Paul Chryst said, per Asher Low of Badgers Wire.

One notable storyline is that Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan will be playing against his former team. The graduate transfer spent four years at Wisconsin from 2017-20, which included being its starting QB in 2019. He missed all of 2020 due to a foot injury before opting to transfer.

The 22-year-old has now led the Fighting Irish to a 3-0 start, helping power them to victories over Florida State, Toledo and Purdue. A win over Wisconsin would give the team even more momentum heading into a big home matchup with No. 8 Cincinnati next week.

"A lot of people ask if I'm taking this game personally and things like that," Coan said, per Tyler Horka of Rivals.com. "Not really. There's no reason why I should take one game more personally than the next. I just want to go out there and win this one like all the rest."

While the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game should be competitive, many of the top teams in the country should have no trouble cruising to victory on Saturday. Four of the top five schools in the AP Top 25 Poll (No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Iowa) have home games against much weaker opponents. Meanwhile, No. 2 Georgia should have no trouble winning at Vanderbilt.

The only other game featuring a pair of ranked teams this week is an SEC clash between No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 16 Arkansas. It's no surprise that the Aggies are 3-0, especially considering their opponents thus far have been Kent State, Colorado and New Mexico.

However, it's a bit more unexpected that the Razorbacks are also 3-0. They've gotten off to a hot start by beating Rice, Texas and Georgia Southern, and they could make a big statement with a win this Saturday.

Even though Texas A&M is favored to beat Arkansas, this could be another game that turns out to be a competitive matchup decided by only a few points.