Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
College GameDay will be heading to Vanderbilt for just the second time when the Commodores host Missouri on Saturday. Plenty of students will be hoping to get the chance to take home the $300,000 up for grabs in the program’s field goal contest, and a couple of players who know a thing or two about kicking went out of their way to help them prepare.
It’s been a little more than 17 years since College GameDay made the trek to Nashville for the first time and set up shop at Vanderbilt, which was sitting at #19 when it hosted #13 Auburn on October 4, 2008 (a game where the home team eked out a 14-13 victory).
It’s been largely downhill for the Commodores and their fans since then, as the team that’s historically been one of the biggest afterthoughts in the SEC hasn’t really come close to meriting another visit. However, the tide has firmly turned this year, as Vanderbilt has gone 6-1 en route to rising to #10 in the AP Poll—the highest the team has been ranked since 1947.
College GameDay will look a bit different than it did last time when the program heads back to campus for its showdown with #15 Missouri on Saturday. Lee Corso is no longer a member of the panel, and Pat McAfee has joined the crew while creating a new segment where students get the opportunity to take home a sizeable chunk of dough by kicking a field goal.
One lucky Vanderbilt undergrad will get the chance to split the uprights, and a sizeable group of them took advantage of the knowledge a kicker and punter were willing to impart on Wednesday.
Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor and punter Nick Haberer held a kicking clinic for Vanderbilt students ahead of the College GameDay field goal contest
Pat McAfee has personally footed the bill for the field goal contest that was introduced when he joined College GameDay in 2023, and students (and charities they’ve helped benefit) have taken home over $2 million by either kicking the 33-yard field goal or getting some help from the ringers who are occasionally called upon.
The first fan to win it in 2023 took home $30,000, but McAfee has gradually raised the stakes. There will be $300,000 on the line when College GameDay arrives at Vanderbilt, and while there’s no telling who’s going to take it, close to 100 hopefuls gathered on Alumni Lawn on Wednesday to get some help from Commodores kicker Brock Taylor and punter Nick Haberer.
A crowd of nearly 100 Vanderbilt students are currently out on alumni lawn practicing their @CollegeGameDay field goal-kicking with Brock Taylor and Nick Haberer 🎥
Was actually impressed with some of the student kicking skills: pic.twitter.com/7a9usl13zM
— Dylan Tovitz (@dtovitz) October 22, 2025
Based on what we know about McAfee’s flair for the dramatic, I wouldn’t be shocked if College GameDay went out of its way to track down a student who took part in the clinic, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.