While no one can replace Lee Corso on College GameDay, Pat McAfee has stepped in as the final analyst to give his picks during the show's famous closing segment. And on Saturday, we finally saw McAfee go out on a limb and pick the road team while serving from that coveted final spot.
During his headgear picks, Corso would often play the heel, toying with the home fans before pulling out the road mascot head, drawing a wave of boos from the crowd. McAfee hasn't come up with a similar gimmick yet, beyond his default boundless energy, but with his WWE background he knows about drawing heat. After spending the morning playing up the impressive GameDay environment in Eugene, Ore., praising the Autzen Stadium crowd and the national championship-hopeful Ducks, McAfee stuck with his local team for his pick between Oregon and Indiana.
McAfee began to stand up on the GameDay desk, which has become something of a tradition for him (when he's not leaping off of high dives at Miami), for what many assumed would be an Oregon pick before getting back down to seat-level and reversing course.
"I love Oregon. I love Dan Lanning, I was shirtless with that man this morning. But my wife is a Hoosier, through and through, and so am I baby!" McAfee bellowed, before starting a Hoosiers chant, much to the chagrin of the home fans.
"In the biggest win of [Curt] Cignetti's career, the Indiana Hoosiers tell the world, we're for real. I'll see you both in the College Football Playoffs, Indiana gets a win today, changes the trajectory of all of college sports."
MCAFEE HAD ALL OF OREGON FOOLED 😱 @PatMcAfeeShow is expecting a huge win for Indiana in Eugene 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SioVu25fAc
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 11, 2025
McAfee was on hand for the previous six editions of GameDay this year—at Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Miami, Penn State and Alabama—and picked the home team in each of those games, going 4–2.
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Last year, before he was the final picker at the desk, he did take Indiana over Notre Dame during a playoff edition of College GameDay in South Bend, Ind., and also took the Hoosiers to upset Ohio State in Columbus a few weeks earlier (both losses). He also took Tennessee to win at Oklahoma during GameDay in Norman early in the season. In 2023, he chose the road team just once, incorrectly taking Ohio State to win at Michigan. In 2022, his first year as a full-time member of the crew beginning a few weeks into the season with an Alabama at Texas game, he was far more adventurous, taking the Crimson Tide on the road in his first game, along with NC State over host Clemson, Tennessee over Georgia and Montana over Montana State during the season.
Ultimately, he's far more interested in firing up the home crowd than drawing jeers—unless a team that he has a close connection to, like Indiana or (presumably) West Virginia is involved—and he's gone with the host school more than 75% of the time for games hosted on college campuses, and that number has spiked in the last two years.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pat McAfee Finally Picked Against the Home Team on ‘College GameDay’.
