Jan 8, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; ESPN analyst Lee Corso in attendance of the Washington Huskies against the Michigan Wolverines during the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game at NRG Stadium. Lee Corso on the sidelines during the Jan. 8, 2024 CFP national championship game. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports.)

At 89 years old, nothing about Lee Corso on College GameDay is perfect anymore. That’s not a knock on Corso or ESPN; it’s just the reality of an aging legend still part of the fabric of the traveling pregame road show.

But Corso has always been closely associated with GameDay, and even with Nick Saban in tow, the show has tried its best to continue to include the legendary coach, even if doing games week in and week out isn’t as easy as it used to be.

He may have been late getting off the set to make his headgear pick. But he was still the only analyst who went against the grain, picking Notre Dame to knock off Texas A&M — which they did, 23-13 — live from College Station. As evidenced by a video shared by Kirk Herbstreit Saturday, in addition to his picks, Corso’s still got it.

Corso didn’t travel with the GameDay crew to Dublin for Georgia Tech-Florida State; he was back on hand for Week 1.

And he made every bit count, as every pick he made Saturday was the correct one; he went a perfect nine-for-nine.

Corso picked Boise State over Georgia Southern (Boise State won 56-45), Vanderbilt over Virginia Tech (Vandy won 34-27 in OT), Penn State over West Virginia (PSU won 34-12), Miami over Florida (The Canes won 41-17) and of course, he picked Notre Dame, if that wasn’t evidence enough by him dressing up — and dancing — like a leprechaun.

The pure joy he shows dancing around is infectious, even if it’s not quite as energetic as it used to be.

It’s tough to buck the trends, but 89 years old on a college football pregame show is even more unusual. Corso doesn’t sweat the Texas A&M crowd, picking against West Virginia and the Aggies in the company of Pat McAfee and Johnny Manziel, respectively, or being the only one calling for Vanderbilt and Notre Dame wins.

While his age prevents him from being as flashy as he once was, he still stays true to himself.

Staying true to himself saw a perfect performance on Saturday; perhaps we should be more in tune with his picks for the final four of the 12-team Playoff and who he picked as his National Champions.

And although Week 1 isn’t over yet, Corso has already predicted that No. 13 LSU will defeat No. 23 USC in their Sunday night matchup in Las Vegas.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.