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The highly anticipated showdown between No. 10 Vanderbilt and No. 15 Missouri this Saturday has officially brought ESPN's College GameDay to Nashville, marking the show’s first visit to the Commodores’ campus in nearly two decades.
The clash between the two 6-1 SEC teams — both of whom's loss is to Alabama — featuring Heisman dark horse quarterback Diego Pavia, is the biggest game on Vanderbilt's schedule in years. To celebrate the program’s massive surge into national relevance, the broadcast has selected its most famous and proudly self-deprecating fan, comedian Nate Bargatze, to serve as the celebrity guest picker.
Bargatze, the current highest-grossing stand-up comic, returns to the GameDay desk for the second time, but this visit is especially significant as it takes place in his hometown and for his beloved team. This is a spotlight moment for a Vanderbilt program that is suddenly defying decades of low expectations, and the decision to highlight Bargatze — who has long embraced the team's underdog status — is a perfect cultural marriage between the sport's biggest pregame show and one of its quirkiest success stories.
Let's dive into Bargatze's Vanderbilt fandom ahead of the Commodores' clash with the Tigers.
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Who is Nate Bargatze?
Bargatze is a highly successful American stand-up comedian, actor, and producer, often celebrated for his unique style of clean, deadpan, and relatable humor. The Nashville native has seen his career skyrocket in recent years, becoming the highest-grossing stand-up comic in the world in 2024, selling over a million tickets on his "The Be Funny Tour" and breaking numerous arena attendance records.
Bargatze has been hailed as "The Nicest Man in Stand-Up" by The Atlantic. He has released multiple comedy specials on Netflix and Amazon, including The Tennessee Kid (2019) and The Greatest Average American (2021), which earned a Grammy nomination.
Beyond his touring success, Bargatze has firmly entered the mainstream cultural conversation. He is a frequent guest on late-night shows, has served as a two-time host of Saturday Night Live, and hosted the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2025.
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Why is Nate Bargatze a Vanderbilt fan?
Bargatze's fandom was made in the 1990s, when his mother worked directly in the Commodores' ticket office, and his second cousin served as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team.
He has frequently mined this experience for stand-up material, often celebrating the comical aspects of supporting a program that historically embraces its underdog status. A fan favorite joke centers on the time the Commodores won a rare, memorable upset. While most fan bases would riotously storm the field and rip down the goalposts, Bargatze recounts that the polite Vanderbilt faithful actually approached a single security guard and asked permission to tear down the goalposts.
Our own @natebargatze is your @CollegeGameDay guest picker! pic.twitter.com/YTYxnthDh3
— #10 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) October 23, 2025As Bargatze himself has noted, "Vanderbilt does Vanderbilt things in a very Vanderbilt way." This sentiment explains why he remains the perfect celebrity ambassador for a team that is currently shocking the nation, proving that their unique, quiet culture can indeed translate into success on the field.
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Nate Bargatze 'College GameDay' highlights
This is the second time Bargatze will be on "College GameDay." He appeared on the show in 2023 for LSU vs Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Nate Bargatze was pure comedy when he was on the desk in 2023 😂
He will return to GameDay as our guest picker this week at Vanderbilt 🍿 pic.twitter.com/t9TBJfuh42
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