College Football

FCS North Dakota State to host ESPN's College GameDay

The GameDay crew is heading off the beaten path.

By Chris Fuhrmeister@ccfuhr Sep 14, 2013, 10:43am EDT

Most visits for ESPN's Saturday morning show, College GameDay, take place at traditional football powers -- the show has visited Clemson, Michigan and Texas A&M so far this season. But next Saturday, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard are changing things up with a trip to FCS North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D.

GameDay almost always visits BCS schools, but there have been a few exceptions. The show has made multiple appearances at the service academies, going to Air Force in 2001, '02 and '09, and Army in 2003. It also visited Houston in 2011, Boise State in 2010, BYU in 2009, Bowling Green in 2003 and Utah in 2004 and 2010. The trips to Salt Lake City came before the Utes joined the Pac -12.

GameDay has shown up on three non-FBS campuses in the past: FCS Florida A&M in 2008 and Penn in 2002, and Division III Williams in 2007.

The Bison, ranked No. 1 in FCS with all 26 first-place votes, host Delaware State at 2:30 p.m. One of the biggest powers in FCS, NDSU has won 10 national championships and 29 conference titles. The Bison opened 2013 with a road win over reigning Big 12 champion Kansas State.

For anyone wondering if the atmosphere in Fargo will be up to GameDay standards, this shows how the Bison prefer to enter their home field, the Fargo Dome, before games.