But this Saturday, it picked Boston College hosting Florida State in a battle of unranked teams.

Instead, for the first time, the show picked a site because of a player: Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, stricken by cancer after being named the Atlantic Coast Conference's top defensive player last year — but now cancer-free.

Herzlich will be on the show live and in a taped segment. Says ESPN senior vice president Mark Gross: "We thought it would be something different, something very real."

As to whether the move was driven by costs, given Boston's proximity to ESPN's Bristol, Conn., offices, Gross says fewer than 10 of the show's 30-40 staffers come from Bristol.

The show has gone pretty far from college's biggest matchups — it once dropped in on Amherst-Williams — and will again Nov. 7 for Army at Air Force in conjunction with Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

But going to relatively obscure game sites isn't necessarily a sacrifice. GameDay at last year's Hampton-Florida A&M drew the show's highest ratings of the year.