My Friday night and Saturday morning consisted of a 9 p.m. arrival, a $20 Uber ride, lawn chairs, a Target Celsius and landing somewhere near number 300 in the kicking-raffle line — still bitter about it. I had zero sleep in 20-degree weather and a mile-long walk over the Clemente Bridge for Domino’s Pizza — all for College GameDay.
It was an experience I will never repeat, simply because I never want to. Was that because of the game’s outcome? Probably. But as a lifelong GameDay fan who grew up idolizing Kirk Herbstreit and Rece Davis, I was all in.
When the sun finally rose over the Pitt faithful, we were welcomed to the show by a wise man — Mr. Pat McAfee — with a booming, “Welcome to beautiful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”
Born and raised in Plum, PA, McAfee was coming home — sort of.
Best known for his days as a West Virginia Mountaineer, McAfee walks the line between beloved Pittsburgh native and sworn rival. Leaning into his WWE persona, he played the heel perfectly, trying to hype up the crowd into singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” West Virginia’s unofficial anthem.
The crowd fired back immediately with “13-9” chants, which brought back memories — dark ones.
For the uninitiated, that score dates back to Dec. 1, 2007. West Virginia, ranked No. 2 at the time, was one win away from the National Championship. The only thing that stopped them? Two missed field goals from McAfee in crucial moments.
Since then, West Virginia has not tasted a National Championship or playoff appearance, and with the state of their program, probably will not for the foreseeable future.
On the bright side, in terms of kicking for McAfee, he now gets to travel to every college campus and highlight why “kicking isn’t easy.” Unfortunately, Pitt was a victim of that statement.
Pitt first-year student Max Weihbrecht was selected to participate in the weekly Pat McAfee Kicking Contest, and the prize was $1 million.
But, like people say, kicking is easy, so Weihbrecht probably had no problem, right?
Weihbrecht wore soccer cleats, Herbstreit had the hold and royal blue and yellow surrounded the Pennsylvania native.
But the kick? No good.
McAfee gave him another shot — doubling the stakes to $2 million — but the result didn’t change. It even ended with a classic “this guy sucks” from McAfee, who called it one of the worst attempts of the season. Half the prize would’ve gone to a local Pittsburgh charity, though McAfee said a charity would still benefit in some way.
Once the outdoor chaos wrapped up, the crew moved inside and was joined by Pitt legend Aaron Donald. Then came the final picks. Everyone besides Desmond Howard and pre-show members Harry Douglas and Harry Lyles Jr. chose Notre Dame. Donald, the man of the hour who was getting his number retired, even shoved McAfee off the set, creating one of the most memorable GameDay moments ever.
Sure, it was one of the smallest pits the program has hosted. Sure, it was on a hill, it poured, it was freezing and the game became a Narduzzi snooze-fest. But the yinzers — and the Notre Dame fans — showed out. It was a sellout at Acrisure — the first since last year’s Backyard Brawl — and one of the greatest experiences of my life.