AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas will play host to both Wisconsin-Alabama and ESPN’s College GameDay.
Alabama-Wisconsin officially 2015’s ‘ESPN College GameDay’ season opener
JerryWorld will once again be the scene for the season opener of college football’s preeminent pregame show.
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
We're headed to Fort Worth for Wisconsin-Alabama on Week 1! https://t.co/IEvwbhalvq
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) August 3, 2015 The site choice was announced on Monday morning at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. The set will be located in the Ft. Worth Stockyards, same as it was last year for the Florida State-Oklahoma State game.
GameDay will then make a quick turnaround and head to Blacksburg for the Monday night game between Virginia Tech an Ohio State, a rematch of the Buckeyes’ only loss during their national championship run a season ago.
This will be the fourth time in the past five seasons that GameDay has opened the college football season in Arlington. In fact, the only time GameDay has opened a season on campus in the past eight years was in 2013, when they went to Clemson for the Tigers game against Georgia.
The 2015 season marks the beginning of a new era for GameDay, as Chris Fowler has moved aside and will be replaced by Rece Davis. Fowler had hosted the show since 1990, and while Davis is certainly a familiar face to college football fans, it will be an adjustment seeing someone else in the host chair.
The game will feature a pair of top-20 teams in Alabama and Wisconsin. The Tide are ranked third in the preseason Coaches Poll, and Wisconsin begins the season at No. 18. Despite losing the focal point of their offense in Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin is coming into the 2015 season feeling confident about their chances against Alabama.
"There's no better way to start a season than to beat a team like Alabama, though it won't be easy," said quarterback Joel Stave. "We have a lot of confidence in ourselves, based on what we did the past calendar year."
"Who's to say we can't beat Alabama?" Running back Corey Clement said. "They proved they can be beat. This conference can play with the best of them. I think (Ohio State's Sugar Bowl win) kind of gave Alabama a wake-up call."
The Badgers and Crimson Tide will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday, Sept. 5.
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