The ESPN College GameDay pundits are self-proclaimed experts at analyzing collegiate football's top match-ups during the gridiron season. But the illustrious broadcast team of Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler is on summer hiatus, leaving no qualified soothsayers to predict the outcome of the Bass Fishing event at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge.

The Xs and Os of football share little in common with the rods and reels used to score points in bass tournaments… with one exception. This year's Bass Fishing event takes on somewhat of a gridiron flair when it begins as a team competition. Five-angler teams representing the most skilled bass fishermen in the game will compete for the gold, silver and bronze medals at the competition held on northern California's Folsom Lake.

If the GameDay boys did know how to pick winners in bass tournaments (which, fortunately, they do not), their collective minds might come up with the following prognostications based on the strengths of the 10 superstar anglers comprising the teams. In bass fishing terms, some are better in the shallows while others excel in deeper water. Combine those two strengths and you have the potential game-winning combination making up the first team.

The teams

Shaw Grigsby
Gary Klein

Strengths: Shallow, Deep
Klein, the three-time silver medallist, is matched with the defending gold medal winner. Beyond the four gold and silver medals hanging around their collective necks, the power of this duo brings a fusion of shallow and deep expertise to the equation.

Klein grew up in northern California fishing deep, clear lakes like Folsom. Early on, he mastered the finesse tactics made popular on such reservoirs. And as noted in a previous article, this Texas transplant caught bass up to 60 feet deep on Folsom when he visited the fishery earlier this year.

On the opposite end of the boat and angling spectrum is Grigsby, who is a master of sight fishing and catching bass from shallow water. Like Klein, the Florida native developed his bass fishing skills in his backyard. So in Grigsby's case, those skills were honed in shallow water.

Davy Hite
Clark Wendlandt

Strengths: Mental versatility

Both anglers are highly versatile by virtue of having won points championships on the pro tours. Having the sharp mental skills required to quickly process the assortment of strategies that will prevail on 11,900-acre Folsom could be an asset to this team.

Folsom has largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass inhabiting various types of habitat throughout the water column. And with that diverse range of habitat reaching from the main lake into the river arms, the choices of where and how to pattern bass under the time constraints of this tournament are mind-boggling.

With a half-day of fishing time to bag a limit of quality bass, advancing to the medal round could boil down to making adjustments at the snap of a finger. If that's the case, look for Hite and Wendlandt to have an edge when they put their collective heads together.

Ron Shuffield
Peter Thliveros

Strengths: Offshore and inshore

Rest assured that one end of this team's boat will be loaded with Carolina-rig gear while flipping tackle will be stashed at the opposite side.

Thliveros is ranked by his peers as one of pro bass fishing's most highly skilled Carolina-rig experts. His partner is equally respected for winning tournament titles by flipping jigs with precise accuracy into tight places along dense shoreline cover.

The thought of slinging Carolina rigs across Folsom's tapering mainlake points and offshore rock formations likely has Thliveros salivating at the chance to test his skills. Likewise, Shuffield's flipping stick is cocked and ready for action in the craggy, off-colored water of the river arms where the big largemouths hide.

The one-two changeup of team Shuffield-Thilveros will be armed with confidence at either end of the lake.

Denny Brauer
Rick Clunn

Strengths: 50 years of experience

A half-century's worth of competitive bass fishing experience will be riding inside this team's boat.

Clunn has won an unprecedented four bass fishing world titles and Brauer has an equally impressive string of tournament wins. Both have banked more than $1 million in cash-for-cast earnings from the BASS trail alone.

A Clunn trademark is his uncanny ability to pattern fish when the stakes are high, a quality he's demonstrated in winning the Bassmaster Classic world finals more times than any other angler. That tournament, like the Great Outdoor Games, is short on time and Clunn's experience could play into his hand.

Brauer is another wizard at pitching and flipping jigs into tight quarters. He is notorious for his uncanny ability to fish used water and leave the competition in his wake. With several expert shallow water anglers potentially sharing water, he could be king of the court if the bite is to his liking on Folsom.

Zell Rowland
Jerry Shawver II

Strengths: Topwater
Both tackleboxes in this boat will be loaded with lures that splash, chug, dip, dart and sashay across the surface to entice topwater strikes.

Rowland is the topwater king of this tournament, having won tournament titles from East to West on topwater baits. Shawver is the amateur in this competition and he enjoys a similar reputation among his peers for winning tournaments with topwaters in his home state of Florida.

The topwater bite will disappear as the sun begins to bake the canyons and rocky hillsides of Folsom, but the early action could be as hot as the noontime sun. If so, look for Rowland and Shawver to have a limit before the first jet ski is launched into the lake.