Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images/Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
Lee Corso wearing Ohio State mascot head next to Pat McAfee
Pat McAfee is certainly capable of making enough people angry on his own without the internet inventing additional reasons to yell at him. Unfortunately for McAfee, a fake report claiming he was about to steal Lee Corso’s most famous College GameDay tradition spread far enough that he actually had to explain that, no, he was not hijacking the mascot heads.
The viral posts claimed McAfee would replace Corso as the person making ESPN’s famous headgear pick and even suggested Corso had declined to give him his blessing. There was only one tiny problem: the entire thing was made up, and Rece Davis had already said a year ago that nobody would be allowed to continue the tradition.
Pat McAfee Was Getting Crushed For A Job He Never Got
The rumor started circulating Monday through posts from Mike Bales and Shane Tuttle, with Tuttle operating a known satire account and Bales’ post later receiving a Community Note identifying the claim as false. That clarification apparently arrived too late for a portion of the internet, which had already decided McAfee deserved to be tried at The Hague for mascot-head theft.
One angry fan accused McAfee of taking Corso’s legacy and told him to show some respect.
McAfee responded that he had “no idea what you’re talking about” before explaining that Corso’s headgear segment had retired with him following Week 1 last season. He also joked that he has reached a point where people simply invent things to make him look like an even bigger a——.
That has to be an incredible social-media experience.
Wake up. Check your mentions. Discover thousands of people think you stole a 91-year-old man’s mascot collection. Learn that the job you are supposedly stealing does not actually exist.
Pretty productive Monday.
ESPN Already Said The Headgear Was Retired
There was never much ambiguity about what would happen after Corso left.
Before his final College GameDay appearance on Aug. 30, 2025, Davis made it extremely clear that McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit or anybody else attempting to put on mascot headgear for the final pick would not be carrying on Corso’s tradition. Davis jokingly threatened to deliver a form tackle to anyone who tried.
Corso then made his 431st and final headgear pick, putting on Brutus Buckeye before Ohio State played Texas. The moment brought the bit full circle, as his first-ever headgear selection in 1996 was also Ohio State. The Buckeyes won 14-7, so Corso even walked away with one last correct pick.
ESPN had announced months earlier that the appearance would feature Corso’s final headgear selection after nearly three decades of making it one of the defining traditions in college football television.
McAfee was never getting it.
Ironically, Corso actually had nice things to say about him. After retiring, Corso called McAfee a “great guy” while discussing passing the broader GameDay torch to the next generation.
So McAfee entered the 2026 college football season having received Corso’s approval, without inheriting Corso’s headgear gimmick and still somehow getting yelled at for disrespecting Corso by inheriting Corso’s headgear gimmick.
The internet remains an extremely efficient machine.