There are a lot of traditions in college football, but one of the biggest happens before kickoff. ESPN’s College GameDay is one of the biggest traditions in college football, the premier pregame show. It’s known for traveling around to college campuses to host the show, creating a unique atmosphere for the university.

However, it’s been a couple of years since College GameDay stopped at Morgantown, West Virginia. In 2018, College GameDay came to the Coliseum for WVU basketball, but the more well-known football version hasn’t been to Morgantown since 2014 when No. 20 WVU hosted No. 10 TCU.

West Virginia football has featured a couple of times since 2014 on College GameDay. WVU appeared in 2017 when TCU hosted, and in 2022 when Pitt had it. But Morgantown hasn’t been the site since 2014.

TV programs have shown up recently. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff came to Morgantown last season for WVU vs. No. 8 Penn State. WVU alumnus Pat McAfee hosted his ESPN show the same week from Morgantown, too.

Those shows don’t have the same traditional impact as College GameDay. College GameDay is one of the oldest shows, having been around since 1993, and is most recognizable.

Signs of hope were created on Wednesday for the show to return to Morgantown. On McAfee’s show, he talked with College GameDay co-host Kirk Herbstreit about potentially getting the show back in Morgantown.

“Pitt is Week 3,” McAfee said.

“I hope we go to that,” Herbstreit said. “We’ve got to go to that. We have to get back to Morgantown.”

Is Morgantown a possibility for the Backyard Brawl on Sept. 13 against Pitt? A lot will have to go right.

First, WVU and Pitt would have to be undefeated after the first two games. WVU opens with Robert Morris and then heads to Athens to play Ohio. Those are winnable games. Pitt also has winnable games against Duquesne and Central Michigan. The two will likely be undefeated heading into the Backyard Brawl.

The other factor is the other matchups around college football in Week 3 that could warrant College GameDay making the trip.

The first is Tennessee hosting Georgia, which could be a ranked matchup. Florida at LSU could be another place to host College GameDay that week. Notre Dame and Texas A&M could be enticing to ESPN producers, too. Notre Dame doesn’t host many high-profile teams this season, so it could be the only chance ESPN has to head to South Bend.

Other than those matchups, the Backyard Brawl is the most prominent. And most of those teams have tough matchups early on, so they could have losses, turning the show away.

There’s a real chance College GameDay could come to Morgantown, but pieces need to fall into place. The bottom line is that if Pitt and WVU win games, they’ll make a real case to have College GameDay. Pitt could be ranked after two games, too, making it more interesting. The problem in the past is that WVU and Pitt have struggled to win games, pushing away College GameDay.

To help, the Backyard Brawl is on ESPN, and McAfee is the biggest name and advocate to make it happen, but it’ll still be up to ESPN producers to decide if Morgantown hosts College GameDay again.

“There’s a real opportunity,” McAfee said. “Neither of us, Pitt and West Virginia, can trickle off in the first couple of games. I think there was a plan in the past, and something happened.”