Ever the babyface — wrestling lingo for “good guy” — Pat McAfee has made a habit of picking the home team throughout his two seasons on ESPN’s College GameDay.
But when it came to the SEC Championship Game this past weekend, the former All-Pro punter turned heel — wrestling lingo for “bad guy” — trolling Georgia fans in Atlanta by making them think he was about to pick the Bulldogs before reversing course and taking Alabama.
.@PatMcAfeeShow called the Dawgs and then picked the Tide 🥶🤣 #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/KDZukBkLhX
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 2, 2023
It’s one thing to make an unpopular pick, but another to rub the home team’s nose in it while doing so. Appearing on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday, McAfee confirmed that the pick was, in fact, personal and came as the result of… the reaction to ESPN layoffs?
“They did not love me,” McAfee said of Georgia fans. “You’ve gotta remember that the who narrative all year was that because my show came to ESPN, obviously we fired Steve Young, we fired all the people that were here and were great people at ESPN. It was my show’s fault. And then on GameDay, David Pollack got let go. David Pollack — who I am a massive fan of. One of the greatest Bulldogs of all-time. A dude who was very good to me — obviously, I took his spot. So Georgia fans all year, not necessarily the biggest McAfee fans.
“With that being said, I was very nice to them, I was very cordial to them. But in the biggest moment, in front of ’em all, it was a nice little reminder that, ‘Yeah, you can go to hell too because of what you said to me all year.'”
Pat McAfee trolled Georgia fans on College GameDay when he picked Alabama after they were angry with him replacing David Pollack.
"It was a nice little reminder, that, hey yea, you can go to hell too for what you said to me all year."
(H/T @JimmyTraina) pic.twitter.com/ux1Wlt6OZY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 5, 2023
It was curious to hear McAfee reference ESPN layoffs on ESPN airwaves — especially his reference to Young, who doesn’t have anything to do with this specific situation. And while McAfee’s high profile deal at ESPN has certainly been the source of criticism when contrasted with the company cutting costs elsewhere, most of that ire has been directed at “The Worldwide Wide Leader,” as opposed to McAfee, himself.
That’s not to say that McAfee hasn’t been a polarizing presence on ESPN, especially on GameDay, where some have argued that his antagonistic approach doesn’t mesh with the spirit of the show. But even before this past season, the part-time pro wrestler was making references to fans — not just in Georgia — being upset about the perception that he was replacing Pollack.
“I can’t wait to get baptized yet again, in the college football atmosphere in the universe,” McAfee said on his show in August. “I think a lot of them hate me because they think I’m replacing David Pollack or I had some say in the fact that he’s not on TV anymore.”
At this point, it’s tough to tell whether there’s something to that or if it’s now just a self-fulfilling prophecy. Either way, as McAfee noted, he was fortunate that Alabama backed him up with a win on Saturday, eliminating Georgia from the College Football Playoff in the process.
“It’s always better that way,” McAfee said. “[If] Georgia wins that, I have to live with that forever.”
