One of the funnier pregame show moments in recent memory comes from SEC Network’s SEC Nation. That show had its cast spread across three locations Saturday, with Roman Harper contributing from Austin, Texas ahead of Alabama-Texas (alongside Pete Thamel and Christine Williamson), Tim Tebow contributing from Gainesville, Florida (alongside Joe Tessitore and Todd McShay) ahead of Kentucky-Florida, and the remainder of the regular cast (Laura Rutledge, Paul Finebaum, Jordan Rodgers, Marty Smith, Ryan McGee and Benjamin Watson) in Nashville, Tennessee for Wake Forest-Vanderbilt.
The Nashville cast did something particularly amazing. They had famed hot chicken restaurant Hattie B’s deliver them hot chicken spiced at four different levels. And the panel (minus Rutledge and Finebaum) ate each level of chicken, then answered questions with different levels of spicy takes. This started off with “mild” chicken and mild takes:
Levels one and two of the SEC Nation panel eating hot chicken on air. pic.twitter.com/PGTrhbytTB
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) September 10, 2022
But it started to escalate significantly in rounds two (“Hot”) and three (“Damn Hot”), with the latter leading Rodgers to proclaim “My tongue is on fire!”
Level 3, “Damn Hot,” featuring Jordan Rodgers’ “My tongue is on fire!” pic.twitter.com/2Fhm3vw8IB
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) September 10, 2022
And the level four (“Shut The Cluck Up!”) chicken was pretty devastating for most of the panelists, with Rutledge (who, along with Finebaum, didn’t partake) even concerned for Rodgers at one point (and pointing out that his parents were in the crowd):
And Level 4, featuring Laura Rutledge’s concerns about Rodgers’ health. pic.twitter.com/URkdgh3lpL
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) September 10, 2022
This led to some good Twitter reactions:
Painful.
Still cannot feel my lips. https://t.co/v2gQDvGnUH
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) September 10, 2022
#SECNation panel answering SEC questions while eating Nashville Hot Chicken (hot, damn hot & Mother Clucking) is TV gold. Jordan Rodgers near choked to death while it is clearly not @ESPNMcGee 1st Hot chicken rodeo. @LauraRutledge is the ring leader…..👏
📸SEC Network pic.twitter.com/X5jp17hvLi— George Somerville (@geosomerville) September 10, 2022
Watching the "real men" on SEC nation trying to eat the different hot levels of Hattie B's chicken is a riot. When they got to the "Damn Hot" it was funny, but then they had to eat the "Shut the Cluck Up", and those fellows had to call for their mommies.#SECNation
— Go Vols 1914 (@GoVols1914) September 10, 2022
.@JRodgers11 ain’t about that spicy chicken life. @SECNetwork #SECNation
— Rob Chittom (@bro_olbert) September 10, 2022
The escalation through the levels of spice was a great idea, as that really helped illustrate the rising heat. The different levels of spicy football questions worked well too, and kept this as a SEC Network show rather than a Food Network one. And, while this wound up rough for most of the panelists (McGee looks to have survived it the best), at least Rodgers didn’t get any spice in his eyes (perhaps thanks to McGee’s important warning of “Don’t scratch your eyes!”). So he still did better than Jeremy Roenick.
[The Comeback on Twitter, ESPN Press Room]
