ESPN Brings 'College GameDay' to BYU/Provo

There will be big-time football in Provo this Saturday, as BYU hosts TCU in a Mountain West Conference showdown.

The hometown Cougars are ranked number 16 in the Bowl Championship Series standings; TCU comes in at number 8. The game is sold out.

ESPN will broadcast its popular GameDay Saturday morning highlights show from Provo, in a testimonial to the importance of the game.

With GameDay in the morning and the BYU/TCU game in the afternoon and evening, there will be traffic congestion all day around Cougar Staduim in Provo.

The local media is playing up the game. Here are excerpts from this Deseret News article:

"It's a tremendous opportunity for BYU to host ESPN College GameDay on our campus," said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe. "The TCU game is sold out and the ESPN shows should add to the great college atmosphere we expect this Saturday."

College GameDay will begin broadcasting Saturday at 8 a.m. Host Chris Fowler will be joined by analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard for the live broadcast.

The Salt Lake Tribune has this article. Below are excerpts.

The rematch doesn't need any extra hype, what with unbeaten TCU (6-0) now ranked No. 8 in the Bowl Championship Series Standings and BYU ranked No. 16 in the BCS standings, the AP Top 25, the USA Today Coaches Poll and the Harris Interactive poll.

"It is going to be a big game, and we have a bad taste in our mouth from last year," said tight end Dennis Pitta. "Fortunately, we get to be at home with our fans. We need to have a great week of practice and prepare well, and play well on Saturday."

TCU is coming off a 44-6 win over Colorado State, after spotting the Rams a 6-0 lead. CSU is the teams' only common opponent to date; BYU beat CSU 42-23 in Provo last month.

Here's ESPN's GameDay page.