This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The announcement that Utah will host "ESPN College GameDay" on Saturday has been greeted with excitement and cheers. It's seen as a sign of respect for the No. 5 Utes as they prepare to host No. 23 California.

According to sports talk radio host Spence Checketts, it will make Rice-Eccles Stadium "the epicenter of the college football world."

But there are some who seem to fear The GameDay Curse.

"I'm not superstitious," wrote one commenter on the Salt Lake Tribune's website, "but I keep thinking about the last time ESPN had their college game day here. (Shudder.)"

A commenter on blocku.com was less subtle: "I'm going to skip this one. Last time the road show came, we got our a——, heads, and spleens handed to us. What an embarrassment."

The last time "GameDay" was at the U. — in 2010 — No. 4 TCU crushed No. 6 Utah 47-7. The first time the show was in Salt Lake City — in 2004 — Utah crushed BYU 52-21.

But the presence of the ESPN crew had nothing to do with either of those outcomes. Utah lost to a good team and beat a bad team. Nothing more, nothing less.

In 2010, TCU went undefeated, won the Rose Bowl and ended the season ranked No. 2; and, frankly, the Utes were overranked. They lost three of their last five by 40, 20 and 23 points while eking out 1-point and 4-point wins over middling BYU and San Diego State teams.

And Utah's 2004 team went 12-0, while BYU stumbled to a 5-6 finish. So — no surprise there, either.

But there are those who insist there is some sort of hex. The last time "GameDay" featured Georgia, a contingent of Bulldog fans were up in arms. And who could blame them? Georgia is 4-13 in "GameDay" encounters — 1-2 at home; 3-5 on the road; 0-6 at neutral sites.

Texas A&M fans could be convinced there's a curse — the Aggies are 0-5. Georgia Tech and Washington are 0-4. Arizona, BYU, North Carolina, Syracuse and Washington State are 0-2 — but it's tough to see any kind of trend in a couple of games.

On the other hand, TCU fans celebrate when their team is featured on "GameDay." The Horned Frogs are 5-0 — including a 38-7 thrashing of BYU in 2009, the only time the Cougars have hosted the show.

The Utes' only featured appearance on the road came three weeks later in Fort Worth, where they lost to the No. 4 ranked Horned Frogs, 55-28.

Those "GameDay" losses in 2009 and 2010 weren't about any curse, however. They were about TCU.

By the way, Cal is 1-1 when the Bears have been featured on "GameDay" — both games were on the road.

Overall, when there's a home team in "GameDay" matchups — when it's not a game played at a neutral site — the host team is 136-96. That's a .586 winning percentage, which isn't bad. And it's a bit deceptive, because most of the time "GameDay" goes where two good teams are playing, not a highly ranked team taking on a doormat.

The 2004 Utah-BYU game was an exception to that rule.

If you're looking for a reason to be concerned, you can start worrying if, on Saturday morning, ESPN analyst Lee Corso says, "Not so fast!" and picks the Utes. So far this season, Corso has picked Alabama over Wisconsin, Oregon over Michigan State, Alabama over Mississippi, Arizona over UCLA and Notre Dame over Clemson — he's been wrong about the on-site game four weeks in a row.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.