(Image Credit: X/@PatMcAfeeShow)
Ahead of ESPN’s College GameDay visit to Utah on October 24, the university’s official Instagram account shared a video asking students to do their best impressions of McAfee.
But instead of simply having fun with his loud personality and on-camera antics, two students went a little further, with one calling him “corny” and another describing him as “creepy. Pat McAfee is not ready to let the University of Utah drama go just yet. What started as a few students poking fun at the ESPN host has turned into a much bigger controversy, with the university issuing an apology and ESPN stepping in to show its support for McAfee. And honestly, it all started with a video that probably seemed harmless when it was first posted. The video was later deleted, but the damage was already done. McAfee had seen it, and he was not exactly laughing along.
With help from BYU supporters Ryan Smith and Ryan Sweeney, his prize was increased to $3 million. By Monday, October 26, the University of Utah was responding to the controversy.
Things also got awkward during McAfee’s popular “Kicking is Easy” segment, which gives a fan the chance to win $1 million by making a field goal. It also accepted responsibility for the post and said it had reached out to him directly. Utah student Morgan Boring was selected for the challenge. Before taking her kick, she brought up the previous week’s contest at BYU, where student Carter Smith made his kick after receiving another attempt. The comparison did not go down particularly well with McAfee, who later brought up the exchange as another source of frustration from the Utah visit. Boring ultimately missed her attempt. Still, the university’s Instagram video remained the main issue behind the public fallout. The school acknowledged that it had missed the mark with the video, explaining that the intention had been to create some lighthearted engagement around McAfee’s visit.
Join conversation Share your thoughts in the comments Be respectful · TOI community guidelines McAfee made it clear that he was not eager to return, even joking that he might have COVID-19 the next time College GameDay visited, assuming he was still part of the show.
The network said it supported McAfee and recognized the concerns he had raised. McAfee brought up the situation during the College GameDay broadcast, making it clear that he was not thrilled with the university’s social media team. His biggest issue was not that students had made fun of him. It was that the university itself had shared the video on its official account just before he arrived on campus for a national broadcast. From McAfee’s point of view, he was helping bring the spotlight to Utah, only for the university’s own social media account to take a shot at him. And he made sure people knew how he felt. During his sign-off, McAfee delivered a pointed line, saying, “I’ll never see you again, hopefully. At the time, some viewers might have thought he was simply being dramatic for television. But his comments on his show the following Monday made it clear that the incident had genuinely bothered him. The student video was not the only thing that rubbed him the wrong way, either. The university made another thing clear: McAfee and the entire College GameDay crew were still welcome on campus. ESPN also weighed in, telling The Athletic that the safety and security of its on-air team, crew and fans were paramount. But there is an important distinction here. Neither the deleted video nor the public statements establish that the university or its students had threatened McAfee. The dispute was about the post, how it was handled and the concerns he raised afterward. That is quite a reaction to what began as a student impression video. For now, the university has apologized, ESPN has publicly backed its host, and the controversy has become a debate about where harmless college humor ends and an official university account crosses the line. Whether McAfee will eventually put the whole thing behind him remains unclear. Utah, for its part, has left the door open for a return. But after that sign-off, it is safe to say that a future College GameDay visit to Salt Lake City could come with a little extra tension. Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.