ESPN’s College GameDay is live from Austin, Texas, ahead of the Week 2 showdown between No. 4 Texas and No. 1 Ohio State — the show airs Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. – noon ET on ESPN, ESPNU, Disney+ and the ESPN App. Texas will host College GameDay for the 11th time, with a 5-5 record in previous hosting appearances.

Travel Reimbursements and Ticket Allocation

Texas will pay Ohio State $500,000 to reimburse the visitors for travel expenses, per a Freedom of Information request by the Houston Chronicle, though the Buckeyes paid the Longhorns the same amount when they played in Columbus last season. The two schools agreed on the amount because the host school keeps the rest of the revenue from the home gate, concessions, and parking.

Texas had a net gain of about 250 seats from the offseason construction in which it replaced the press box with 10 luxury seats worth $10 million apiece. The school gave Ohio State just 3,800 tickets for the game, expected to break the school’s all-time home attendance record of 105,215, set in the Longhorns’ home loss to Georgia in 2024.

Predictions and Betting Lines

The Longhorns are 1.5-point favorites in the latest odds, with the over/under set at 50.5 points. The model from SportsLine has a 33-20 run on top-rated CFB money-line picks since the 2024 season and has been upgraded for the 2026 season to better factor in the transfer portal. The model simulated the game 10,000 times and is going under the 50.5-point total.

Ohio State defeated Texas 14-7 in Columbus last season and 28-14 in the College Football Playoffs in 2024 — Texas had a 59-7 win over Texas State, while Ohio State piled up nearly 700 total yards in its opening 56-3 win over Ball State.

College GameDay Cast and Coverage

Host Rece Davis is at the helm for his 12th season, joined at the desk by GameDay analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban. College football insider Pete Thamel, college football analyst “Stanford Steve” Coughlin, and reporters Jen Lada and Jess Sims round out the GameDay cast for the 2026 college football season.

Glen Powell, currently completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas and set to graduate this spring, returns as celebrity guest picker; Texas will host College GameDay for the 29th all-time appearance, while Ohio State extends its own record with its 69th College GameDay appearance.

Coming off its most-watched season ever, College GameDay is off to another record-setting start; Last week’s episode delivered the show’s second-highest season debut on record and ranks among its top three regular-season episodes all time.