Picture this: It’s Saturday morning. The camera pans past waving Italian flags, soaring above cobblestone streets filled with chanting fans. But this isn’t the SEC, and those aren’t Georgia Bulldogs barking in the background. No, this is Rome. And that towering silhouette behind Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit? It’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Welcome to College GameDay: Vatican Edition.
Yes, seriously. A notion once whispered in jest has taken a divine twist, thanks to an extraordinary event in world history — the rise of Pope Leo XIV, the first American ever to ascend to the papacy. Born in Chicago, the new Pope isn’t just a spiritual leader. He’s a sports-loving, White Sox-cheering, tennis-playing, football-watching enigma. And now, with his American heart beating at the center of the Catholic Church, college football insiders are wondering — is a papal cameo on College GameDay the craziest idea… or a masterstroke?
This holy hypothetical erupted on the May 14 episode of ESPN College Football, where analysts Rece Davis and Pete Thamel didn’t just toy with the idea — they embraced it like a last-second Hail Mary that somehow connects. The spark? A viral photo depicting a massive crowd in Vatican City, hilariously compared on social media to a College GameDay audience. The question followed naturally: What if GameDay actually went there?
Rece Davis lit up at the thought. “Obviously, it would be Notre Dame,” he said, practically giddy. “Would it be anyone other than Notre Dame and BC?” A smirking Pete Thamel didn’t hesitate: “It kind of has to be. Sign me up.”
Let’s pause for dramatic effect.
Notre Dame and Boston College — the Holy War reborn — not just on hallowed turf, but on sacred ground. The Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl transported to the Eternal City. An American-born Pope watching from above… or maybe from the sidelines, wearing a headset and blessing the coin toss. It’s surreal. It’s almost sacrilegiously awesome. And yet, with all the chess pieces now on the board, could it really be so far-fetched?
This matchup is already drenched in ecclesiastical gravitas. Notre Dame, a school cloaked in tradition, whose locker room prayers echo louder than its pregame speeches. Boston College, a Jesuit stronghold that has battled Notre Dame for Catholic supremacy since the days of leather helmets. And at the helm of Notre Dame? Marcus Freeman, a man whose own spiritual journey led him to Catholicism just two years ago. A head coach baptized into faith and football, now poised to become a symbol of both.
Throw in a new Pope with Midwestern roots and a love for the gridiron, and suddenly, this isn’t just a gimmick — it’s a narrative destiny. The synergy is biblical.
Adrian, a GameDay producer, reportedly floated the ultimate mic-drop: get the Pope as a guest picker. Yes, you heard that right. The Vicar of Christ going head-to-head with Lee Corso over who covers the spread? This isn’t sports television. This is a culture-quaking, meme-exploding, once-in-a-millennium spectacle.
“We need the Pope to be a guest picker if we ever do a religious-affiliated matchup,” Thamel emphasized. “It’s a challenge to our bosses. Let’s make history.”
Here’s the tantalizing part: logistically, it could happen. GameDay has never shied away from spectacle. They’ve gone beyond the southern strongholds — from Ann Arbor to Los Angeles — wherever the story is loud enough. And in 2025, Notre Dame is slated to host Texas A&M early in the season, a marquee showdown that could catapult them up the rankings. Later, on November 1st, Boston College looms. A perfect storm brews.
If the Vatican seems too far-fetched (though, really, is it?), what about the Pope making a stateside pilgrimage to South Bend or Chestnut Hill? With Pope Leo XIV’s Chi-town roots and NFL Sunday leanings, who’s to say he wouldn’t say yes? Forget Air Force One — we’re talking Holy Force One.
Thamel summed it up with almost absurd simplicity: “He’s American. He’d come to America. I imagine the Pope has watched GameDay at some point, right? He’d be a great picker.” If that moment ever materializes, forget breaking the internet — it would obliterate it. It’d be the Super Bowl of Saturdays. TikTok would explode. X would melt down. And sports media? It would find religion.
Could a Notre Dame vs. Boston College matchup truly move the needle enough to bring ESPN to the Vatican — or the Vatican to ESPN? It sounds like fantasy. But then again, so did an American Pope.
One thing is certain: if ESPN wants to create an episode for the ages — one whispered about by old sportswriters and young dreamers alike — there’s only one way. Get the Pope on set. Put Notre Dame and BC on the card. And let the spirit of football, faith, and pageantry collide in a way the world has never seen.
Would it happen?
We’ll leave that to divine intervention.
