8/24/2017 football Edit

Kirk Herbstreit 'Fired Up' About College GameDay Coming To Bloomington

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

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Kirk Herbstreit is ready for live football.

After watching seemingly endless about of replays while exercising during the offseason, the ESPN College Football Analyst is excited for College GameDay to come to Bloomington for IU-Ohio State and kick off the 2017 season.

"I’m fired up," said Herbstreit, who will call three games in five days next week. "First of all, to get the season started like you are, just to be able to see football, to be able to see real games. I’ve been on the treadmill watching these classic type of games and you know you’ve got an issue when it’s the middle of August and you’re watching Pitt against Clemson for the third time. It’s like we need a new game to watch."

There's plenty of pomp and circumstance surrounding next week's season opener for the Indiana football program.

Ohio State is ranked No. 2 in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches polls, and the Buckeyes also bring with them former IU head coach Kevin Wilson who is now Ohio State's offensive coordinator.

ESPN will also broadcast four hours of live coverage from Bloomington beginning at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN, followed by a special Thursday night edition of College GameDay at 6 p.m. ET up until kickoff. Field Pass, an alternate pregame show featuring Tessitore, Joey Galloway, Adnan Virk and Jesse Palmer which will broadcast inside the stadium at field level, will air at 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

For the game itself, the network will also use its megacast for a regular season game for the first time ever, offering seven different ways to watch the contest. ESPN traditionally offers the megacast for the college football playoffs.

"I’m excited to kick the season off and in kind of grand fashion for game day, which is very rare, by the way, for us to get on the road on a Thursday night," Herbstreit said. "How interesting to have an Ohio State on the road in a conference game against an Indiana team with a great deal of experience, and Indiana against their former head coach. There is just a lot there for an opening game on a Thursday night.

"And Indiana, as you know from covering them, thinks very well of themselves to think that they can compete not only with Ohio State, but I think they can finally take that step to get over the hump and compete in the Big Ten East."

With all the anticipation surrounding next week, Herbstreit might also try to sample local food. Either way, he's ready for the historic night to get started.

"I’m excited," Herbstreit said. "I don’t know any of the sandwich places there, but I’m sure it’s a great place to grab a sandwich and get ready for an exciting couple days in Bloomington."