For the second time this season, ESPN's College GameDay will serve as an opening act for the Penn State football team.

The crew from ESPN's popular college football pregame show will be in East Lansing, Mich., for Saturday's game between Penn State and Michigan State.

The crew already filmed the show live from outside the Bryce Jordan Center before the Nittany Lions' Oct. 8 game against then-No. 6 Ohio State.

Yesterday also saw the Lions move up to No. 4 in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, and ESPN spokesman Michael Humes said Penn State's national ranking had a lot to do with GameDay traveling to East Lansing. "You've got Penn State going for the Big Ten title and the BCS berth, and Michigan State is looking for a win and a bowl bid," Humes said. "We look for a game that has some kind of story line, and this game has story lines."

The choice is somewhat surprising to many, given that the Spartans have struggled of late and rank toward the bottom of the Big Ten with a 2-5 record in the conference and a 5-5 record overall. "It's kind of shocking to me that GameDay is going to be there," Penn State Director of Branding and Communications Guido D'Elia said. "I talked to [GameDay host] Chris Fowler on the phone and found out [Sunday] night."

It is not entirely surprising that Penn State is an attractive target for ESPN. The Oct. 8 edition from State College was viewed by an average of 1.86 million homes and pulled a 2.1 ratings share. It was the second-highest-rated episode in the show's 12-year run and the highest-rated Saturday morning edition.

D'Elia also suggested that appealing to a larger regional audience might have influenced the decision to shoot from East Lansing. "I think they have been to the South enough," D'Elia said. "They wanted to get up North, and they haven't been to East Lansing. They were looking for an opportunity, and [Penn State] gave them one."

Nevertheless, Humes insisted the location had nothing to do with the decision. "All we do is look for story lines," he said.

How much interest there will be from a frustrated Spartans fan base is unknown, but according to D'Elia, the crew is hoping for a strong turnout from Penn State's traveling contingent. "Fowler was hoping that we'd be able to get a lot of Penn State kids," D'Elia said. "There might be more Penn State kids than Michigan State kids at the show."

D'Elia said Penn State would be taking buses filled with students and other fans to East Lansing, and interested people should call Fullington bus lines.

He added that although it isn't known exactly how many Penn State fans will make the trip west, the athletic department has sold its 3,000-ticket allotment.

Fans can still buy tickets through Michigan State's athletic department Web site, msuspartans.collegesports.com.