Having World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler as the picker for ESPN’s College GameDay in Austin was always going to be notable for his time playing collegiately at Texas. There, he won the Big 12 individual championship in his freshman season in 2015, qualified for the U.S. Open in both 2016 and 2017, and was part of the team that won the amateur Walker Cup against Britain in 2017.
But, beyond Scheffler’s pick of the No. 1 Longhorns over No. 5 Georgia (he joined the panel in a unanimous prediction there), the guest picker also also got some notice for his comments on the Miami-Louisville game. Scheffler was infamously arrested in Louisville on his way to the PGA Championship this May.
That bizarre incident (which saw Scheffler watching TV coverage of his arrest from jail) eventually ended with him still able to play and with the charges eventually dropped. (That drop came after a lot of ridicule for arresting officer Bryan Gillis and his claims of pants “damaged beyond repair,” and after the release of video casting doubt on Gillis’ story.) But it still undoubtedly impacted Scheffler and his play in that event.
So whatever Scheffler (who showed up in the green jacket he got for winning the 2022 Masters) was going to say about Louisville when picking the Cardinals’ game against the No. 6 Miami Hurricanes was going to get attention. And he was set up for that, with Pat McAfee sitting next to him and saying “Sitting where I am at this particular time, there’s no way I’m taking Louisville right now.” Scheffler laughed, and said “Not to bring anything personal into this with Louisville, great city, love the people,” but that got laughter from the set and crowd. And then he said “But I think Miami is gonna smoke them,” and got a lot more laughter.
Noted Louisville enthusiast Scottie Scheffler picking against the Cardinals.
“Not to bring anything personal into this with Louisville, great city, love the people, but I think Miami is gonna smoke them.” pic.twitter.com/k5C6aa0yIM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 19, 2024
Whether Scheffler’s pick is eventually correct remains to be seen, with that game tied 38-38 early in the fourth. In any case, his “gonna smoke them” didn’t work out quite as well, and was a bold prediction. Yes, the Cardinals are unranked, but that 4-2 team was only five-point underdogs here.
Beyond that though, this at least was a funny moment on GameDay. Maybe there really was nothing personal in this, or maybe there was. At any rate, it got people thinking about Scheffler and Louisville again, and to even some shots at Gillis:
Noted Louisville enthusiast Scottie Scheffler picking against the Cardinals.
“Not to bring anything personal into this with Louisville, great city, love the people, but I think Miami is gonna smoke them.” pic.twitter.com/k5C6aa0yIM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 19, 2024
“Not to bring anything personal into this with Louisville…great city…love the people, but Miami is gonna smoke them.” – Scottie Scheffler
Scottie is a savage 💯👏
— Tour Golf (@PGATUOR) October 19, 2024
Scottie Scheffler getting some Louisville revenge from May pic.twitter.com/459pGCnQDK
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) October 19, 2024
It’s unusual to hear College GameDay picks that are referencing golfer’s arrests, but hey, it was a natural fit this week.
[Awful Announcing on X]