Caitlin Clark is back on the Pentacrest. Less than 48 hours after her Indiana Fever's season ended with a 94-83 playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces, the former Iowa women's basketball star and Fever guard is serving as guest picker for ESPN's College GameDay, which has set up shop in Iowa City for the first time in 20 years ahead of No. 14 Iowa's showdown with No. 5 Ohio State.
GameDay built by The Home Depot is broadcasting from the Pentacrest, with the show airing from 7 to 10 a.m. MT (8 to 11 a.m. CT) on ESPN and ESPNU, and streaming via the ESPN App, according to the El Paso Times. A pregame countdown kicks off at 6:30 a.m. MT. ESPN announced Clark's guest-picker role ahead of the broadcast, and the show itself posted that “it's only right to have a Hawkeye legend join College GameDay as guest picker when in Iowa City,” per the same report.
A 20-Year Wait Ends on the Pentacrest
Saturday marks just the third time in program history that GameDay has set up in Iowa City, following visits in 1996 and 2006 — and in all three appearances, Ohio State has been the opponent, according to historical data cited by BetMGM. The matchup also represents Ohio State's 70th overall GameDay appearance, extending the program's national record, while Iowa is making just its 10th appearance on the show, according to historical head-to-head data compiled by Sports Reference.
Behind the scenes, ESPN host Rece Davis has said he was personally rooting for Iowa to beat Michigan in Week 4 specifically so the GameDay crew would pick Iowa City for its Week 5 location, citing the electric campus environment as his motivation, as reported by FanSided. Iowa delivered, topping Michigan 20-19 on a final-play touchdown on Sept. 26, pushing the Hawkeyes to 4-0 and setting up the homecoming moment for both the show and for Clark.
Kinnick's History Against the Buckeyes
Ohio State enters Saturday's game with a commanding all-time series edge, having won five of the last six meetings against Iowa, and the Buckeyes are favored by 14.5 points despite both teams ranking in the top 15, according to CBS Sports. But Hawkeye fans have a recent memory to point to: the last time Ohio State visited Kinnick Stadium, in November 2017, unranked Iowa blew out the then-No. 3 Buckeyes 55-24, a result Sports Illustrated notes still looms over this rematch nearly a decade later.
There's also a coaching milestone in play. Twenty-eighth-year head coach Kirk Ferentz, fresh off the win over Michigan, has a chance to join Jerry Burns as the only Iowa coach to beat both Michigan and Ohio State in the same season — a feat Burns last accomplished in 1962, according to Hawk Fanatic.
Clark's Commercial Footprint Looms Large
Clark's appearance arrives amid a massive business moment for the Iowa alum. Nike CEO Elliott Hill confirmed that the global release of Clark's debut signature sneaker, the Caitlin 1, launched in roughly 5,000 retail stores on Oct. 1, according to Sneaker Bar Detroit.
The timing underscores just how compressed Clark's turnaround has been: her WNBA season ended Thursday in Las Vegas, and by Saturday morning she was back on her old college campus picking games on national television, as Awful Announcing detailed.
