ESPN College GameDay Built by The Home Depot at Ole Miss: Morgan Freeman to Serve as Guest Picker

ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot is heading to The Grove in Oxford for Week 3 of its 40th season, placing the pregame show at the center of a major SEC matchup. No. 8 Ole Miss hosts No. 7 LSU at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, while College GameDay broadcasts live from 9 a.m. to noon ET Saturday, Sept. 19, on ESPN, ESPNU, Disney+ and the ESPN App.

The broadcast combines high-stakes football with several notable appearances. Mississippi native and Ole Miss superfan Morgan Freeman makes his first-ever College GameDay appearance as celebrity guest picker, while Lane Kiffin returns to the program he previously coached. The show also features Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and a full reporting team.

ESPN College GameDay at Ole Miss: What Fans Can Expect

Ole Miss will host College GameDay for the third time and make its eighth appearance on the program. The last live broadcast from The Grove took place in 2021, when Kiffin served as celebrity guest picker. LSU makes its second appearance of the season and its 37th overall.

The anticipated event follows another strong start for the program. Last week’s broadcast from Texas averaged 2.7 million viewers and reached 3.4 million during its final hour, outpacing the competition by 102% and setting records for the show’s most-watched Week 2 episode and final-hour audience.

How to Watch ESPN College GameDay in Oxford

Viewers can follow the day’s programming in Oxford with the following schedule:

1. 8:20 a.m. ET: Countdown to GameDay begins with Harry Douglas, Harry Lyles Jr. and Jess Sims. The weekly show is available across ESPN on YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.
2. 9 a.m.-noon ET: College GameDay Built by The Home Depot broadcasts live from The Grove on ESPN, ESPNU, Disney+ and the ESPN App.
3. Noon-12:45 p.m. ET: Marty & McGee Presented by Old Trapper goes live from Boure off the square in Oxford with Marty Smith and Ryan McGee.
4. 7:30 p.m. ET: No. 8 Ole Miss hosts No. 7 LSU on ABC.

The local Marty & McGee broadcast will focus on Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss, current SEC headlines and the broader intersection of Southern lifestyle and college football.

Morgan Freeman’s First College GameDay Appearance

Morgan Freeman, an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a Grammy Award and Tony Award nominee, will serve as the celebrity guest picker in his first appearance on College GameDay. The Mississippi native and Ole Miss superfan announced his role on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday.

Rece Davis returns for his 12th season at the desk. He is joined by analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. College football insider Pete Thamel, analyst “Stanford Steve” Coughlin, and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the cast.

Herbstreit’s presence also carries a season milestone. On Monday, Sept. 14, he celebrated the 30th anniversary of his first College GameDay broadcast.

Why Ole Miss vs. LSU Has Rare Historical Weight

Lane Kiffin’s return creates an unusual place in AP Poll history. He becomes just the second head coach to face a Top-10 opponent that he coached during the previous season. The other is Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Brown, who coached Ohio State from 1941-43 before facing the Buckeyes as head coach of Great Lakes Navy on Oct. 21, 1944.

The ranking also marks the first AP Top-10 meeting between LSU and Ole Miss since 1962, when John Vaught led No. 6 Ole Miss to a victory in Death Valley over No. 4 LSU. It is only the second AP Top-10 game played at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium; the other came against Auburn in 2014. Ole Miss has won the six most recent meetings.

For College GameDay, the weekend adds another chapter to its Ole Miss history. The program’s 2021 appearance featured Kiffin as celebrity guest picker, creating a direct connection between the previous Oxford broadcast and Saturday’s visit.

College GameDay Segments, Features and SABAN Preview

Saturday’s broadcast includes both game-focused analysis and broader features connected to the people shaping college football:

• Pete Golding live: The Ole Miss head coach joins College GameDay on set ahead of the No. 8 Rebels’ game against No. 7 LSU.
• The GameDay Film Room: Nick Saban examines how coach-to-quarterback radio communication has changed in-game strategy, with Lane Kiffin highlighted as a prominent example.
• SABAN exclusive: Viewers receive a special preview of the upcoming six-part ESPN Original series chronicling Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban’s life, career and legacy. The project includes hundreds of hours of previously unseen footage and new interviews with Saban, Miss Terry Saban and more than 70 former players, coaches, colleagues and others.
• “Are You Ready?”: Wright Thompson examines the change in expectations and sentiment surrounding Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss.

SABAN premieres Thursday, Oct. 8. Episode 1 airs at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN, and all six episodes will be available at launch on the ESPN App.

Oxford Fan Experiences and Community Features

The live broadcast extends beyond television with contests and community programming throughout Oxford:

• Pat McAfee’s “Kicking Is Easy” Contest: Returning for its fourth season, the segment gives selected early-arriving fans in the onsite pit a chance to make a 33-yard field goal. McAfee has awarded more than $7 million through contest prizes and charitable donations during his time on the show.
• Extra Yard for Teachers: The College Football Playoff Foundation and ESPN are celebrating educators from Sept. 12 through Sept. 19. Viewers can nominate teachers at CFP-Foundation.org, while ESPN commentators distribute DonorsChoose gift cards and College GameDay highlights teachers during the Ole Miss broadcast.
• ESPN College GameDay Scavenger Hunt: The digital contest opens Wednesday, Sept. 16, with three challenges involving campus landmarks and trivia about past broadcasts. Fifteen random participants who complete all three tasks, plus one guest each, receive premium seating near the front of the broadcast, camera-view access and exclusive merchandise.

ESPN worked with experiential agency Assembli on the digital and on-site experience and with Flowcode to connect participants inside the new College Football ESPN Fan House. The broader Extra Yard for Teachers initiative has supported teachers and coaches with more than $4 million since 2014.

What Makes This Ole Miss GameDay Weekend Significant

Oxford is receiving more than a standard pregame broadcast. The weekend brings together a nationally prominent guest picker, a rare coaching-history milestone, a historic LSU-Ole Miss ranking matchup and extensive fan engagement across The Grove and downtown Oxford. For anyone planning to watch or attend, the essential details are clear: College GameDay is live from 9 a.m. to noon ET on Sept. 19, followed by No. 8 Ole Miss against No. 7 LSU at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.