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With the Chiefs on a bye week, QB Patrick Mahomes is getting back to his roots.

With the Kansas City Chiefs not playing this week, their players have some much-needed time to relax. As stars and role players alike rest up for the home stretch of the 2025-26 campaign, the face of the franchise is on the move.

On Friday, it was announced that quarterback Patrick Mahomes is going home to his native state of Texas. The two-time NFL MVP will serve as a guest picker on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program on Saturday.

Patrick Mahomes to Be Guest Picker for College GameDay at Alma Mater

“College GameDay” is notoriously a premier destination for Saturday Division I programming. The ESPN mainstay features famous personalities, now including former NFL punter Pat McAfee and longtime Alabama head coach Nick Saban, as pillars. A rotating weekly guest oftentimes joins the show, adding some flair.

Mahomes will speak with not only McAfee and Saban, but also host Rece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Mahomes is taking a particular interest in this venture. After all, he’s a Texas Tech football alumni. His Red Raiders have a downright massive Saturday showdown at home against the BYU Cougars, which kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on ABC. The contest in Lubbock kicks off from Jones AT&T Stadium.

To this point, Texas Tech has lost just one game. This meeting between Big 12 powerhouses will have a ripple effect not only on the conference championship outlook, but also the College Football Playoff. Entering the weekend, the Cougars and Red Raiders sit seventh and eighth, respectively, in the initial 2025-26 CFP rankings.

During his three seasons at Texas Tech, Mahomes completed 857 of 1,349 passes (63.5%) for a whopping 11,252 yards, 93 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He led all FBS signal-callers in yards (5,052) and yards per game (421) as a junior in 2016. Mahomes also rushed for 22 scores in 32 games with the Red Raiders, establishing himself as a program legend. He was inducted into the Texas Tech football Ring of Honor and Hall of Fame in 2022.

Mahomes & Chiefs Will Enter Huge Post-Bye Stretch in Week 11

Through nine games, the Chiefs find themselves in a weird spot. On one hand, three of their losses were mostly avoidable. This team’s process is objectively better than 2024-25’s group — yes, the one that won 15 regular-season games. Despite that, the results are lackluster for the reigning AFC champions.

Week 9’s 28-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills wasn’t as close as the final score showed. Buffalo dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides, ultimately limiting possessions. Mahomes himself had his worst statistical outing of the year, completing just 44.1% of his passes with an ugly 57.2 passer rating.

Heading into this week’s bye, Mahomes emphasized the need for Kansas City to get back on track quickly.

“There’s no easy game coming up,” Mahomes said. “There are no more chances that we can really take losses. You’ve got to learn from it fast. We’ve got to be better as a team. Offensively, we’ve got to be better, especially on some of those big drives we had in the second half. I think we’ll just continue to push away and learn on this bye week, and then come back and be ready to play our best football coming off of it.”

Mahomes, an MVP favorite, has thrown for 2,349 yards, 17 touchdowns and 5 interceptions this season. He’s also averaging a career-high 31.7 rushing yards per game and has already tied his personal best with 4 scores on the ground. The Chiefs’ offense ranks third in points per drive, thus making their tough losses even less bearable.

Once the superstar gets back from college (OK, for a day), all focus shifts to Week 11’s game against the Denver Broncos.

Jordan Foote is a seasoned sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com with an emphasis on the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers. He has years of experience publishing NFL and MLB content for Sports Illustrated’s On SI vertical, in addition to a background in NBA coverage for multiple outlets. Foote is a Baker University alumnus, earning his degree in Mass Media. He’s based in Kansas City. More about Jordan Foote

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