Kenny Chesney Tackles SEC Football

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

Oct. 7, 2008 — Nashville is buzzing about the Vanderbilt Commodores football team, and with good reason. Traditionally one of the major-college doormats, the team is off to a 5-0 start and ranked No. 14 in the USA Today coaches poll. In fact, for the first time in history ESPN staged Saturday’s "College GameDay" in Music City when the ‘Dores hosted Auburn.

For the occasion, college-football fanatic Kenny Chesney made a guest appearance on "GameDay," then headed up to the announcer’s booth with Brent Musberger during the third quarter, as Vandy won 14-13.

"Everybody thinks their opinion matters," Kenny shrugs. "When we get talking sports on the bus or back home, hanging out with friends, it can get pretty heated. Getting to go do that with the ‘College GameDay’ guys, well, that's the kind of deal every fan thinks they're so qualified to do — and never gets the chance to. Lucky for me, [‘GameDay’ host] Kirk [Herbstreit] comes out to some of our shows, so when they got to Nashville, I got the call to come on down and hang out."

The guest slot was appropriate. Hailing from East Tennessee, Kenny headlined a stadium show for the first time in his career at Neyland Stadium — the home of the University of Tennessee — and he played 14 stadium dates this summer, the first of them taking place on the home turf of the University of South Carolina. Kenny’s annual Keg In The Closet Tour also takes him to college towns around the Southeast for impromptu shows.

With "GameDay" behind him, Kenny has plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks. He'll be on GAC in an exclusive special Monday, October 13; his new album, Lucky Old Sun, is released next Tuesday; he appears on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" the following day, and he’s performing Nov. 12 on "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards", where his seven nominations are tops among all finalists.