Pat McAfee Leaving ‘College Gameday’ Would be a Miss

When a sports personality has a personality like media-star Pat McAfee’s it certainly will lend itself to an automatic percentage of observers almost automatically disliking it.

I get it.  It’s not clam by any means and its 180-degrees off of that of the old guard.  It’s clearly not for everyone, I get that.  But let’s be real for a minute.

McAfee saved ESPN’s College Gameday the last two seasons.

The show had grown stale.

Desmond Howard joined the show over a decade-and-a-half ago and his bit of protecting Michigan at all costs grew old around the same time the Lou Holtz-Mark May studio bit did.

Kirk Herbstreit used to be a superstar on College Gameday.  So much in fact that he rose to a spot in Amazon’s TV booth for NFL’s Thursday night games a few years back and since doing so it’s hard not to think he’s been spread a bit too thin.

Lee Corso, bless his heart, is a trip down nostalgia lane each Saturday he’s shown.  The last decade has been a bit rough on Coach’s health and despite his best efforts, his headgear pick at the end of each show doesn’t hit like it used to.

We already know legendary head coach Nick Saban will be joining the show this fall which will give it a change that is hopefully for the better.

But as McAfee remains unsigned to the show in 2024, fear starts to creep in that he may be gone form it.

McAfee sells the pomp and pageantry that makes college football special.  He seems to really buy in to each campus he visits both with his own show broadcasting on Friday’s and during Saturday’s College Gameday showing.

Leading the Tennessee band in Rocky Top, calling the Dawgs only to spit in their faces, and going bull riding while in Montana are just a few of the highlights he’s had.  I won’t sit and defend all of the things McAfee said that has landed him a bit of hot water.  I will sit here however and tell you the show has been more entertaining with him on it the last two years than it was the previous decade combined.

If McAfee wants to free up a bit of his busy schedule as he’s a relatively new father still, nobody is going to think any less of him for leaving Gameday.  If he’s leaving because his act truly isn’t received well by the “distinguished college football crowds” then that decision will turn into an ESPN regret in no time.

McAfee might not be for everyone and that’s fine, most entertainers aren’t.  But without him I’m guessing the number of college football fans that flea College Gameday for Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff as their pregame choice will only grow.

Related: Notre Dame’s history in 34 all-time College Gameday appearances

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