PROVO, Utah – ESPN’s College Gameday shared predictions for Saturday night’s game between No. 18 BYU and Troy.

The crew was on location in South Beach for the much-anticipated matchup pitting the nationally-ranked Miami Hurricanes against their heated rival, the Florida State Seminoles.

Me and my MASSIVE hammer have been rather warm on @CollegeGameDay…

Sure feels like @ReceDavis is trying to sabotage me pic.twitter.com/v98BjkuV06

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 26, 2020

During the program, they turned it over to analyst Pat McAfee for his picks. One of the games McAfee likes is BYU to take down Troy.

“BYU, just a few weeks ago, I thought they were potentially the best football team that has ever gone onto a football field,” he said. “I love the stormin’ Mormons out there minus-14 1/2 against Troy, strictly ’cause I don’t know what a Troy is.”

Kirk Herbstreit, who was on the call for BYU’s season opener at Navy 19 days ago, agreed with McAfee on his pick. Herbstreit was at home during the broadcast after coming in contact with someone that had COVID-19 in Nashville earlier in the week.

“I am on your side. I’m all about BYU. They are physical — probably as physical as anybody in the country at the line of scrimmage. I know it was against Navy – they hadn’t practiced, they hadn’t tackled – but I love this BYU team.”

After the Cougar’s win on Labor Day at Navy, Herbstreit said that BYU’s performance reminded him of an NFL team with how the circumstances of the game didn’t faze them amidst a pandemic.

GameDay host Reece Davis said that BYU could be without 12 to 13 players due to a variety of issues. KSL Sports reached out to a spokesperson from BYU and that number would include players that have already been ruled out with season-ending injuries.

Those players with season-ending injuries for BYU are Matt Bushman, Jackson McChesney, Hinckley Ropati, and Chaz Ah You.

BYU/Troy Gameday Links

• How to watch, listen, and stream No. 18 BYU vs. Troy
• Three storylines that could determine the outcome of the BYU/Troy game
• BYU DB/LB Chaz Ah You is out with a season-ending injury
• BYU OL Tristen Hoge battling through pneumonia after a bout with COVID-19
• BYU/Troy game set to be played after Troy tests negative for COVID-19

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.