Kirk Herbstreit jokingly questions if College GameDay is allowed to pick Vanderbilt over Alabama in Tuscaloosa

For the 21st time in the history of the show, ESPN‘s College GameDay will travel to Tuscaloosa for an Alabama football home game. Usually, GameDay would travel to Alabama for a Crimson Tide clash against the likes of Georgia, LSU, or Florida. But this year, GameDay rolls into town for a monstrous matchup against No. 16 Vanderbilt.

For the first time since the 2008 season, the Commodores have opened the season with a 5-0 record thanks to wins over Charleston Southern, Virginia Tech, No. 11 South Carolina, Georgia State and Utah State. This weekend’s clash in Title Town marks a rematch from last season, where the ‘Dores knocked off then No. 1-ranked Alabama 40-35 in one of the biggest upsets in recent history.

Meanwhile, this game also marks a major opportunity for No. 10 Alabama to continue to show that its season-opening loss to Florida State was a fluke. Since that loss, the Crimson Tide have rolled Louisiana-Monroe and Wisconsin and upset No. 5 Georgia 24-21 Saturday night, ending the Bulldogs’ 33-game home winning streak.

Ahead of the clash, ESPN‘s College GameDay‘s Kirk Herbstreit raved about Vanderbilt on Thursday’s edition of ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’ There, he possibly alluded to picking the Commodores to once again upset the Tide this weekend.

Herbstreit is high on Clark Lea and Vanderbilt heading into Alabama game

“I visited with Diego Pavia for a feature for GameDay this week,” Herbstreit said. “Man, are we allowed to go to Tuscaloosa and pick Vandy? We’re not allowed to do that are we? You talk to him and Clark Lea and I’m like ‘holy cow’. These dudes are for real. Bama’s coming off a massive win last week in Athens so they have a ton of momentum and their quarterback really grew up. It became his team.”

“I think Bama is obviously the team to beat, but this is not the old Vandy. These boys are for real and that quarterback is coming in pissed off at the world.”

Heading into the game, Vanderbilt‘s Pavia and Alabama‘s Simpson have emerged as two of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Pavia boasts 1,211 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions through three games, while Simpson has tossed for 1,138 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Pavia’s 88.4 QBR ranks third in the nation, while Simpson’s 84.2 ranks 12th.

Kickoff between No. 10 Alabama and No. 16 Vanderbilt this Saturday is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ABC.