The show, which features some of college football's most prominent personalities traveling to different campuses across the country, has been a fan favorite for well over three decades now.One of the best parts about "GameDay" is the students and fans piling into a small area on campus to express themselves and cheer on their team, and one way they've done that since the show started was to bring handmade signs.A sign is seen at ESPN College GameDay ahead of the Ole Miss-LSU game in The Grove in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday, Sept.19, 2026.
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)They've featured everything from clever jokes to insults to opposing mascots, but last weekend in Tuscaloosa, the "GameDay" executives took a stand and introduced a "no religious signs" ban ahead of the Crimson Tide's top-ten showdown with Georgia.This took pretty much everyone by surprise, including 40 Days For Life CEO Shawn Carney.CHRISTIAN WOMAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO NEW 'ORWELLIAN' CHARGES FOR STANDING AND SILENT PRAYERCarney's company focuses on holding peaceful vigils outside of abortion facilities, offering pregnant women alternatives as well as a last chance to "choose life."Shawn Carney is a father of eight and the President and CEO of 40 Days for Life, a pro-life organization.(Courtesy of 40 Days for Life)To say faith is near and dear to his heart is an understatement, and when he first heard the news about the religious sign ban, he was perplexed."We've done this and it doesn't work," Carney said when discussing the ban.
"It's called 2020 and all of the companies that decided to go in that direction, it just backfired.It's so stupid."Carney reveals that he's a huge fan of "College GameDay" and a diehard Texas A&M Aggie, and ESPN trying to muzzle what he calls their largest demographic of fans doesn't make sense in his eyes.THE NFL IS AMERICA'S MOST GOD-CENTERED PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUE AND SUNDAY'S GAMES CONTINUED TO PROVE IT"Football is religion in the South," he explains.
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