Why is 'College GameDay' randomly at Minnesota vs. Indiana in Week 9?

Why is 'College GameDay' randomly at Minnesota vs. Indiana in Week 9? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

ESPN's "College GameDay" attempts to travel to some of the most marquee matchups each and every week. For college football's Week 9, the crew has decided to travel to Bloomington, Ind. for Saturday's Big Ten showdown between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and No. 4 Indiana Hoosiers.

The location choice was surprising to some. The matchup is not a Top-25 game, such as No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 17 Florida in Atlanta, or No. 22 Arizona vs. No. 13 Texas Tech.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes are taking on the USC Trojans on Saturday night. The show also did not choose to go to Indiana for the Hoosiers' matchup against then-No. 4 Ohio State two weeks ago.

Here's what to know about the show's decision to go to Indiana for Week 9.

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Why is 'College GameDay' going to Minnesota-Indiana?

ESPN does not explain its decision on where the show travels to every week, nor does it have to. But the decision to go to Bloomington feels like a curious one.

To be fair, Minnesota is 6-2 on the season and coming off of an upset over Iowa just last week. But the Hoosiers are listed as 20.5-point favorites, so the game is not expected to be exactly all that close. This is also just the second time all season the show has not picked a game between two ranked teams.

There are also other more favorable games the show could have chosen, such as the aforementioned rivalry showdown between the Gators and Bulldogs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The show could have also gone to Lubbock, Texas for the first time ever as the Texas Tech-Arizona game has huge Big 12 Championship implications with both teams sitting at 6-1.

GameDay rolled out to Provo, Utah, two weeks ago instead of Indiana's home game against Ohio State. But that game was also on Fox, and the Big Ten's Big Noon Kickoff was already on hand for that one. Last week, the show went to Salt Lake City for the Big 12 showdown between Utah and Houston.

ESPN's location choices are expected to come under even more scrutiny as the show's Pat McAfee blasted his experience on Utah's campus last week. While there is no evidence that McAfee has a say in where the show goes every week, fans will begin to wonder if he does.

There is also a potential scheduling component at play here for panelist Kirk Herbstreit. After Herbstreit is done with the show, he will have to hustle to catch a flight to Atlanta, as he is set to call the Florida-Georgia game on ABC. It would be tough to make that work if the show were in Lubbock and would be virtually impossible if the show went to Los Angeles for Ohio State-USC.

As for why the show didn't just choose the game in Atlanta to begin with, it is likely the show could be at the same site for December's SEC Championship game. The show has also been to five SEC cities so far this season. In fact, the show's first four locations were for games involving SEC teams.

The show has gone to a Big Ten campus just once so far this season. There's a chance the show wanted to show both Indiana and the Big Ten some love this week and chose a location that would also accommodate Herbstreit's schedule.

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