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Chis Fallica is a Senior Researcher for ESPN’s College Gameday. He is commonly referred to as “The Bear” and is one of the highlights of the show. Today Fallica was tweeting some of the more interesting match-ups in the 2018 College Football Season where Gameday could land. One of them is Mississippi State’s First Home Game against the Florida Gators.
Florida at Miss State - Dan Mullen return to Starkville on 9/29; UCLA at Oregon - Chip Kelly return to Eugene on 11/3
— Chris Fallica (@chrisfallica) January 18, 2018
Fallica cites Mullen’s return as the big highlight as to why College Gameday would come to Starkville. Scott Stricklin, the former State AD, would also be making his return to Mississippi State. He left to take the Florida AD job in September of 2016. He sparked controversy in the end of 2017 by hiring former MSU Head Coach Dan Mullen as the Gators Head Football Coach.
Florida begins the 2018 season with Charleston Southern, Kentucky, Colorado State, and @ Tennessee. Considering the fact that Florida defeated Tennessee and Kentucky last season, They will likely be 4-0.
State begins the 2018 Season with Stephen F. Austin, @ Kansas State, @ Kentucky, and UL Lafayette. The Kansas State game will be a challenge, but I think State will be 4-0 as well.
Which an undefeated matchup on 9/29 will make for an appealing College Gameday site. The biggest competitor will be Ohio State @ Penn State. A rematch of last seasons big comeback for Ohio State and 2 years ago when Penn State upset Ohio State on the “white out” which allowed the 10-2(8-1) Nittany Lions to win the Big Ten. But the 11-1 Buckeyes ended up in the Playoffs over Penn State which sparked some controversy.
However if College Gameday does want Penn State and Ohio State involved, former Penn State OC Joe Moorhead is the head coach of Mississippi State. And of course current Florida HC Dan Mullen has ties to current Ohio State HC Urban Meyer.
College Gameday usually announces sites a week to 2 weeks before the game. So do not expect to find out anything until the week of September 19th at the earliest. But Starkville appears to be one of the top 2 choices for College Gameday for the 29th. And hosting the 2nd ever College Gameday in Starkville would be a big deal for Mississippi State.