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Pat McAfee has responded to recent comments made by Washington State head football coach Jake Dickert and former Cougar signal caller Ryan Leaf. The College GameDay host ripped into Wazzou Saturday morning on the air.
The criticism came in response to a recent beef between members of the program and College GameDay host Lee Corso.
Corso was heard on the air last weekend previewing the Washington State vs. Oregon State matchup, calling it the “Nobody wants us bowl,” referring to the Cougars and Beavers being the last two remaining members in the PAC 12 following realignment.
Head coach Jake Dickert misheard those remarks as, “Nobody watches bowl,” and he subsequently went off in a press conference.
“I was watching GameDay, and Corso comes on and he says, ‘The No One Watches Bowl,’” Dickert exclaimed. “I don’t really understand that. What’s the merit, once again? Because the facts say people watch the Cougs.”
Ryan Leaf later backed his team’s head coach with a post on social media, saying, “College GameDay is supposed to be a celebration of college football. Instead, they choose to make it a big joke, and everyone on the panel enables it. Just a bunch of windsocks.”
The comments soon brought about the rest of the College GameDay crew, with Kirk Herbstreit directly responding to Leaf.
“Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked Ryan.”
Despite Herbstreit’s seeming correction of what was heard and what was actually said by Lee Corso, Leaf doubled down.
The point of my criticism of @CollegeGameDay was simple. They had an opportunity to make it a celebration of #CFB and instead made it a joke. Direct, to the point, and also acknowledging that falling short is a human trait – it happens & we all do it! #CVE23 #GoCougs #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/hs0Xq9Nfha
— Ryan D Leaf (@RyanDLeaf) September 28, 2023
That must’ve been the final straw for Pat McAfee.
Pat McAfee blasts Washington State over College GameDay beef.
The crew was in Durham Saturday morning on site for a huge matchup between Notre Dame and Duke. While on the air, as they do in nearly every show, the cameras focused in on “Ol’ Crimson,” the Wazzou flag that’s followed the set around for 292 consecutive appearances.
During the segment, McAfee took a vicious shot at the Cougars.
Earlier this week, Wazzu head coach Jake Dickert and former QB Ryan Leaf criticized College GameDay for turning Oregon State-Washington State into a joke.
Pat McAfee appeared to respond this morning. And then some. pic.twitter.com/3ia6Ze7gko
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2023
“Who cares?!! [Was College GameDay] showing this flag when they were 1-11 in 2009?” the host asked.
“Yes, we were,” co-host Rece Davis responded.
“How about 2-10 in 2010?… So when they sucked, you guys were showing that every single week on the biggest college football show? Wow, handle success, Ryan Leaf… Shut up, Washington State. I’m about sick of you.”
We’ll see if the comments squash the beef or further fuel the fire.