Who are ESPN college gameday announcers today? All you need to know about Week 3 game’s coverage team
Lee Corso has been a staple of the college football world, having hosted the College GameDay for ESPN since 1987.
Today the legendary sportscaster made his 400th headgear pick, as one of the most eccentric traditions of college football went to Boulder, Colorado, for the encounter between the encounter between Colorado and Colorado State.
The Lee Corso pick is a tradition from the College GameDay program, in which Corso dons a headgear representative of the university he thinks will win the game at the campus where the program has traveled on that particular day.
As he picked today's winner between both Colorado schools, Corso was joined by a star-packed cast that included Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howar, Urban Meyer, Patt McAfee, and movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Johnson himself played college football at the University of Miami in the late 90s.
Corso decided to pick, to no one's surprise, the Buffaloes to win today's encounter versus Colorado State. This is the first time in 26 years that Corso picked Colorado to win a game, which speaks volumes to the lack of relevance of the program in the last three decades. College GameDay hadn't been to Boulder since the tradition began.
McAfee has been on ESPN's payroll on and off since 2019. In May of this year, ESPN announced a multi-million dollar deal that saw the Patt McAfee Show move to its platforms. McAfee had a successful NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts as a punter
While on the air as an ESPN College GameDay guest, the Rock also declared his belief that the Buffaloes will win the matchup and also added that:
"Something really special here happening here at Colorado, something special that's happening here in Boulder, and that something special is this, you can feel the electricity, you can feel what we call mana... That's what Coach Prime is doing to this program, he's galvanizing this, he's galvanizing the team, galvanizing this campus, galvanizing the country, changing the game of college football"
While stating this, he removed a jacket that he was using to hide a Colorado jersey, thus demonstrating his support for Deion Sanders' team. He was also wearing some sunglasses in the style of Coach Prime himself. It is something that became controversial in recent days as Jay Norvell, CO State's head coach, criticized Sanders' way of dressing.
Why is the Dwayne Johnson on ESPN?
The appearance of a celebrity like the Rock shows the relevance of the Colorado program nationwide right now. Coach Prime has transformed Colorado into the most followed school so far this season.
The Rock also knows his football, having been a defensive tackle for Miami in the early 90s. While he was there, he played alongside greats like Warren Sapp and won the 91 Cotton Bowl and the 92 Orange Bowl.
Colorado is drawing the attention today of ESPN with College GameDay traveling to Boulder, while they had the focus of Fox Sports for last week's Big Noon game. Coach Prime's media success is undeniable. CFB on Fox also traveled to Boulder for Week 3.