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College GameDay annonces first 2026 guest picker as final decision made on Pat McAfee tradition The 2026 college football season is a special one for ESPN's College GameDay. The beloved Saturday morning pre-game show, hosted by Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban, is celebrating its 40th season in 2026. The ESPN staple is kicking off the new college football season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday for the Week 1 clash between Clemson and Lane Kiffin's LSU, which is already shrouded in controversy. Lainey Wilson announced as College GameDay's 2026 Week 1 guest picker The show is set to be doubly special as it will mark College GameDay's 500th show on the road, so it's only right they brought out the big guns for this week's celebrity guest picker. The official College GameDay account on X revealed that country singer Lainey Wilson will be the Week 1 guest picker. Wilson is a Louisiana native, and so it makes sense to bring her home for Week 1, where she will also perform live. “I’m coming home to Louisiana this weekend to be your ‘College GameDay’ celebrity guest picker, and I’m going to sing a few songs,” Lainey said. “I can’t wait to be on LSU’s campus cheering on my Tigers.” ESPN confirmed that each week’s guest will be announced live on The Pat McAfee Show every Thursday. Pat McAfee's kicking contest returning to College GameDay Per Awful Announcing, the 'Worldwide Leader in Sports' also confirmed the return of McAfee's kicking contest for a fourth season. McAfee's field goal kicking challenge, which sees fans win huge sums of money for converting a field goal, has quickly become a College GameDay tradition, particularly since Lee Corso retired along with his iconic headgear segment. It is one of Stephen A. Smiths' favorite segments, too, however, at the back end of last season, McAfee himself hinted that it could be over for good. As Texas A&M student Austin Roberts missed the $1 million kick, McAfee said: "It'll be our final kick of the season, maybe of the entire series." He allowed Roberts one more chance, saying: "One more kick. Final kick of the season. Final kick, maybe, of the field goal kicking contest." Rece Davis, who hosts the show alongside McAfee, was asked if the kicking contest will return in 2026: "That’s Pat’s domain. You’ll have to ask Pat about that." However, Awful Announcing reported on Thursday that sources "anticipated the contest’s eventual return, though they conceded they had received no formal confirmation from the network, and several admitted they’d nearly forgotten Pat McAfee had raised the possibility of cancellation in the first place." They also report that given McAfee bankrolls the prize money out of his own back pocket, a fresh sponsorship agreement covering the costs or a renegotiated financial arrangement folded into his rumored $60m ESPN extension is one of the ways in which the kicking contest has been able to return.