Pat McAfee closed out College Gameday this week, and Alabama fans aren’t having it

Pat McAfee is College Gameday's newest attraction after Lee Corso's final show and like Kalen DeBoer, he's struggling to follow a legend.
Pat McAfee takes the stage at ESPN College GameDay ahead of the University of Oklahoma-Michigan
Pat McAfee takes the stage at ESPN College GameDay ahead of the University of Oklahoma-Michigan | Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In his final show, the legend Lee Corso was the lone man on the College Gameday panel to pick against Alabama and correctly predict his Florida State Seminoles’ upset of the Crimson Tide. Still, after Pat McAfee closed out College Gameday in Week 2 from Norman, Oklahoma, as the Sooners host Michigan on Saturday night, even scorned Tide fans would happily welcome Corso back. 

McAfee is the new closer for Gameday, cutting what felt like a WWE-style promo before picking the Sooners in front of the home crowd. 

Pat McAfee and Kalen DeBoer are both learning that it’s no fun to follow a legend

Nick Saban set the bar so high in Tuscaloosa that no matter how DeBoer’s tenure started, as long as it wasn’t with a national championship, it wouldn’t have been good enough. Now, after DeBoer’s Week 1 loss to Florida State, he has as many unranked losses (4) in 14 games as Saban had in 17 years. 

DeBoer clearly hasn’t met the standard, but a fanbase that has been as spoiled as Alabama doesn’t quite have the most patience. As college football fans, we’ve all been spoiled by years of Corso and his iconic headgear selections. It’s hard to fathom that anyone will ever feel the same about McAfee’s monologues, but it doesn’t help that he’s forced to follow a legend. 

Alabama fans and the rest of college football didn’t seem to enjoy the chane this week after last week’s pomp and circumstance in Columbus for Corso’s final show for the Week 1 matchup between Texas and Ohio State. 

If you’re not a fan of McAfee’s brashness, maybe you’d prefer Barstool founder Dave Portnoy on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff? Or Saturday morning could be a good time to go for a walk, maybe spend some time with family and friends, you could even read a book (or my Best Bets for Week 2)? Anything not to watch McAfee or Portnoy would do. 

It’s not easy to follow a legend, and DeBoer and McAfee are both struggling to live up to their predecessor. I’m sure if Alabama fans had to choose which one they’d prefer to start turning things around, they’d sacrifice McAfee’s Gameday in a second.