Jason Sudeikis' Notre Dame family ties make him perfect College GameDay guest picker

Matthew Glenesk, USA TODAYThu, November 5, 2026 at 6:20 PM UTC

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Instead of going with Jon Bon Jovi and "Living on a Prayer", ESPN's College GameDay will go with Ted Lasso's "Believe" mantra.

Jason Sudeikis was selected as this week's celebrity guest picker in South Bend for the Notre Dame-Miami showdown.

Sudeikis, known for his role as Ted Lasso and his decade-long run on "Saturday Night Live", said his grandfather and uncle graduated from Notre Dame.

"With deep family roots right here at Notre Dame, having him on campus feels like home," the Fighting Irish's official athletics X account posted Thursday.

Another of Sudeikis' uncles, George Wendt — Norm on "Cheers" — attended Notre Dame but was expelled his junior year after posting a 0.00 GPA.

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"I flunked out," he told the Kansas City Star in a 2016 interview. "I basically quit and didn't inform the university. I'd moved off campus my junior year, and I didn't think it through. I didn't have a car. It was cold. I never went to class."

Sudeikis is known for his affinity for Kansas men's basketball and Iowa women's basketball, but said he grew up rooting for Notre Dame football.

“It’s big in my family,” Sudeikis told Pat McAfee, one of College GameDay's hosts. “Growing up, my folks are from Chicago – my mom from the South Side. Her father, my grandfather, was a graduate from Notre Dame.”

“My very first Notre Dame football game I went to was Oct. 15, 1988 – the ‘Catholics vs. Convicts’ game, as it was known way back then,” Sudeikis said. “… I went to that game with my dad, my uncles, my grandfather that I mentioned. My dad bought me the t-shirt from a guy sitting right in front of us.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jason Sudeikis' Notre Dame family ties make him perfect College GameDay guest picker

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