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After weeks of speculation, it’s official: ESPN College GameDay is coming to Penn State for the Nittany Lions’ primetime matchup with No. 17 Michigan. This will be GameDay’s sixth overall visit to Happy Valley, and will be the first time back since September 2009.
Get Ready, Nittany Nation... @CollegeGameDay is headed to Happy Valley for the Penn State White Out!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/NPkYCSSQnb
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) October 15, 2017
The Nittany Lions have had mixed results with the GameDay crew in town. While Penn State has picked up wins against No. 4 Arizona (1999) and No. 6 Ohio State (2005), it also fell to No. 4 Michigan (1997), No. 1 Ohio State (2007), and Iowa (2009). Fortunately, these results are extremely meaningless to what happens on the field on Saturday.
While some in the anti-ESPN crowd will poo-poo all over this announcement, this is a very cool thing for Penn State, both from a program and fan perspective. The added exposure only helps Penn State’s brand nationally (i.e. recruiting), while GameDay will only increase what should be a fantastic atmosphere all weekend in State College.