Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff is a direct competitor with ESPN’s College GameDay. While the two networks go head-to-head, it’s rare that you’ll see one take a shot across the bow at the other. It’s not like the days of the Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWE after all. But we may have finally seen some juice to the television rivalry on Saturday morning as Matt Leinart and Big Noon took a not-so-subtle shot at Pat McAfee and College GameDay.
Last week McAfee drew the ire of Washington State fans by calling the program out after head coach Jake Dickert called out Lee Corso for dismissing the forgotten Pac-2 of the Cougars and Oregon State. McAfee launched into a full-fledged rant that didn’t reflect well on himself or GameDay as it came off as telling the school to keep quiet and accept their fate on the outside looking in at major college football.
Although Fox isn’t necessarily coming to Washington State’s rescue, Big Noon Kickoff acknowledged the controversy on Saturday, and then some. Matt Leinart not only gave praise to the Cougars as an under the radar contender, he pulled out an Ol’ Crimson flag (famous for flying every Saturday at GameDay) and gave another Wazzu flag to Mark Ingram to parade on the set.
Matt Leinart and Big Noon Kickoff send a message to Pat McAfee and College GameDay by waving Ol' Crimson and showing Washington State some love. pic.twitter.com/dJ5Amt8Urb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 7, 2023
For what it’s worth, McAfee briefly joked about the feud with Washington State this week on GameDay and even picked them in their game against UCLA. Next week, College GameDay goes on the road to Seattle for the massive Oregon-Washington game. Of course, both of those schools will be leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten next year, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Pacific Northwest fans give McAfee a warm welcome… and if McAfee responds to Leinart in some way.
