Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
Pat McAfee greets Kirk Herbstreit before ESPN College GameDay starts ahead of the Ole Miss-LSU game in The Grove in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. Sep 19, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; The SEC logo seen on a down chain.
With each passing week, it seems as if more and more college football fans are turning against ESPN’s iconic “College GameDay” pregame show, and the show’s hosts did nothing to help their cause on Saturday morning.
Broadcasting from inside the University of Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum, yet another SEC venue, due to Hurricane Isaias, the show went off the rails when it reached the weekly “Superdogs” segment, when each host picks a heavy underdog they believe could win the game outright.
Pat McAfee opted to pick Sacramento State, an 8.5-point underdog, to beat Bowling Green. However, his explanation for his pick fell far short of what you’d expect from someone paid millions of dollars to talk about college football.
The College GameDay crew, reveling in their lack of knowledge about non-Power 4 college football teams. https://t.co/upGeBdQGGG
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 10, 2026
College GameDay Hosts Mock Smaller Conferences
How about this: Sacramento State, plus eight and a half over Bowling Green,” McAfee said, while Kirk Herbstreit chuckled at the pick. “I know next to nothing about both these teams,” he continued, making Desmond Howard start to laugh.
“It was pretty ripe and picked over by the time whenever we got to my selection of SuperDogs, because everybody gets their picks in early,” added McAfee.
Rece Davis, trying to get the show somewhat back on track, then put in his pick.
“How about Fresno State at home in the valley, getting a touchdown against Boise State?” Davis asked. “You know, Fresno State has won the last three meetings. They’ve got “Speedy” Luke at running back, Jayden Mandal’s been a good quarterback…”
The two Pac-12 teams will square off later in the evening on Saturday. Herbstreit, however, was unaware they were even in the same conference.
Is that a conference game?” he asked.
“It is; it’s a Pac-12 game now,” Davis responded.
Listen, college football has changed a lot in the last decade. But this is their job to know. If you don’t want to care about conferences beyond the Power 4, that’s your prerogative. But then make it clear and explicit.
This type of stuff is why “College GameDay” has seemingly lost everything that once made it must-watch TV for fans.