College Gameday and Notre Dame Football: A Complicated Relationship

Notre Dame Football has lost a fair amount of the times it has been featured on College Gameday. But is the hype that the show brings to campus worth it?

I took my first trip to the Holy Land that is South Bend, Indiana in October of 2012. Notre dame was slated to have another season of mediocrity that year as the team came into their first game against Navy unranked to start the season. But that quickly changed with wins over then eleventh-ranked Michigan State on September 15th and over then tenth-ranked Michigan the following week. Behind stellar defensive efforts on the back of Manti Te’o, fans and college football pundits were proclaiming that Notre Dame football might just be “back.”

Notre Dame football season will be upon us in a few short weeks, and the campus will be welcoming an old friend: ESPN’s College Gameday. In light of this fact, I cannot help but think back to my first trip to Notre Dame Stadium in October of 2012. To my excitement, my friends and I found out at the beginning of that week that the College Gameday crew would be in attendance for my first trip to the campus to witness Notre Dame’s primetime clash against Stanford. I was already swept away by the degree to which the team was over-performing to that point in the year. They would check in at number 5 in the country when they took the field against the Cardinal. But adding College Gameday to my first South Bend experience? What could be any better?

Not only did being on campus exceed my expectations, but so too did the game. Multiple goal line stands in the pouring rain were capped off by an official’s announcement after analyzing the replay. One could hear nothing but the raindrops as the official walked to the center of the field to announce that Notre Dame had won the game. The Fighting Irish band exploded with the Victory March. The fans screamed at the top of their lungs. It seemed in that moment that Notre Dame football was indeed “back.”

A lot has happened since that October evening in 2012. Notre Dame lost a National Championship. I got married (green and blue were our colors, of course). I went to Notre Dame again last year to watch them slaughter USC. My wife became pregnant, and the doctor informed us of the due date: September 1st, 2018. What were the chances? So here we are, putting the last touches on our baby boy’s Notre Dame nursery as we not only prepare to have our first baby but for the latest installment in the Notre Dame – Michigan rivalry. We also prepare for the latest installment in the Notre Dame – College Gameday saga.

Much has been discussed on many Notre Dame fan sites over the years about whether College Gameday has been a “good” thing for Notre Dame football. There is no doubt that Notre Dame has a complicated relationship with the broadcast record-wise. Notre Dame is 12-16 overall when they are featured on the show. Those 28 times put them at 6th for most times featured on College Gameday. The record on the field speaks for itself. But what about all the other elements that College Gameday provides when it comes to campus?

I may be biased because Notre Dame won back in 2012, the first time I saw a game at Notre Dame stadium and the last time College Gameday came to the University of Notre Dame. But whether you like the show or not, whether you think the show is good for Notre Dame or not, there is no denying the kind of exposure it brings to the program. The hype that the show brings to campus is equally undeniable. I saw this firsthand in 2012. I have to believe the same will be the case this year as Notre Dame opens up the season against Michigan, another one of their storied rivals.

College Gameday is coming to the party whether you like it or not, and I think it does nothing but pump up the fans and players alike going into a first game of the year of this caliber. Any good coach will tell you that things like sports shows do not win or lose ball games. What wins or loses ball games is what the coaches and players decide to do with the hype that a sports show like College Gameday offers the team. If Brian Kelly ever blamed College Gameday for a loss in his post-game press conference, we would all be calling for his head. So I say enough about the record of Notre Dame on College Gameday.

I totally buy the hype that College Gameday brings to a campus. Perhaps even more than that, I buy the hype that Notre Dame football brings to College Gameday. And perhaps even more than that, I buy into the hype that the two bring to each other. I watched this relationship play out beautifully in 2012. And I will be watching once again on the morning of September 1st, my Notre Dame Messiah baby in one hand and an Irish coffee in the other.