Tailgating, traditions, intense rivalries, and die-hard fans are all elements that create the electric atmosphere of college football. From the opening of the season in late August until the National Championship in January, ESPN’s College Gameday showcases this unique environment every Saturday morning.
For the past 38 years, College Gameday has been highlighting the vibrant culture around college football. The show first aired in 1987, beginning as a 30-minute broadcast in a studio in Connecticut. Since then, the show has analyzed the biggest matchups and greatest moments of college football for an impressive 4 million viewers each week.
It would be a disservice to College Gameday to discuss the show without mentioning its most beloved commentator, Lee Corso, who started on the show in 1987 and retired just this year. He, alongside Beano Cook and Tim Brando, made up the show’s original cast. He was known for his iconic headgear pick, which began in 1996 when he wore the Brutus head (Ohio State’s Mascot) for the first time. This quickly became a popular part of the show, where each week viewers would watch in anticipation to see which mascot’s headgear Corso would choose. His final College Gameday appearance was at Ohio State for its opening game against Texas. Announcing, “Give me my first love!” Corso put on the Brutus head once again, making Ohio State the first and last of his legendary headgear picks, a fitting goodbye to College Gameday.
As the times have changed, so has the show. In 1993, College Gameday marked a new era by traveling to college campuses to perform the show live, first visiting Notre Dame for a matchup against Florida State (Corso’s alma mater). Since then, the show has been filmed on over 100 campuses. The show has also grown in size, evolving from just a three-person team to now featuring multiple hosts, analysts, and extras. The current cast consists of host Reece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban. New segments have also been added, taking the broadcast from a 30-minute to a 3-hour runtime.
In 2009, the show began hosting celebrity guests who have a tie to the city or college and reveal their projected winners for the game that week. Just this past week, comedian Theo Von–a Vanderbilt fan who lives in Nashville–was the guest picker in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama vs. Vanderbilt game. Fun fact: he lives in the mansion once owned by Vanderbilt’s former coach! A fan favorite guest picker was Bo Jackson, who played in both the NFL and MLB and appeared on the show in 2019 for the Oregon vs. Auburn game. The show has chosen various athletes, actors, comedians, and other celebrities as pickers since beginning this tradition in 2009.
In 2023, analyst Pat McAfee added a new segment to the broadcast, a thirty-three-yard field goal kick that one lucky individual gets to attempt. The kicker is chosen in a raffle of the first 300 people at the show, and if they make the kick, they are awarded a cash prize personally paid by McAfee. The prize begins at $250,000, though McAfee is known for adding money to the prize, sometimes letting the contestant rekick for a chance to win double the money or adding money to the prize for charity. Last year, he gave away over $1.7 million for field goal kicks, and this year, he has almost matched that total with four field goals and a total of $1.5 million so far.
Out of the four field goals made this year, one in particular stood out. In Tuscaloosa at the Alabama vs. Vanderbilt game, a senior at Alabama, Gabby, was selected for the kick with a chance to win $500,000. She missed the first kick, and instead of getting a rekick, McAfee handed the ball to his fellow analyst, Kirk Herbstreit, and said that if he threw it through the goal post, Gabby would be awarded the money. Herbstreit, who was a quarterback at Ohio State in the 1990s, had no trouble throwing the ball through the uprights, and Gabby won $500,000.
Fortunately for me, I got to attend the Tennessee vs. Georgia in Knoxville game a few weeks ago and enjoy the College Gameday festivities, and it was amazing to see the excitement that the show brought to the campus. As a special treat for all the fans in Tennessee and at home, College Gameday had country singer Russell Dickerson perform a few songs, so I got to see a free concert in addition to the game! I also watched a Tennessee student attempt a field goal, and even though he missed it, it was still cool to see.
Although the show has changed with different hosts and segments, the purpose of the show has remained the same: to enhance the college football atmosphere for the fans who get to see the broadcast live and for those at home who can’t make it to the game. If you haven’t tuned in yet, check it out!
