Corso’s Last Ride

Lee Corso’s Last College Gameday

Photo from Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

One of the most timeless traditions in all of college football is College Gameday. Every week, Gameday analysts Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and host Reece Davis travel to the games with the most excitement in the country. At these games, they interact with fans, predict games and talk about everything college football. This is why Gameday is a beloved tradition of all fans who watch college football every Saturday.

But one of the biggest reasons why Gameday is loved by so many is because of one man, Lee Corso, who is also an analyst on the show. Corso has been on Gameday since its first air in 1987 and, ever since then, Corso has been the pride and joy of the show. He has brought many things to amp up the atmosphere of every single game that he and the rest of his crew went to. One of the most impactful things that he brought to Gameday was his headgear selection. At the end of every show, all the analysts would pick their winner of the game that they were at, including Corso. However, Corso would not simply just announce his pick, instead, he would dawn the mascot head of whoever he thought would win the game. This tradition started by Corso has been synonymous with him ever since.

“I think Lee Corso brought a fun energy every time he was on stage,” junior Evan Takacs said. “Everything that he did with the [mascot] masks and his opinions, even though they were outside the box, brought fun to it [Gameday].”

Corso’s last appearance on Gameday came on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. The reason for his retirement from Gameday was because of health and age, as he had recently been absent for many of the previous Gameday’s in prior years.  

The crew traveled to Columbus, Ohio for the highly anticipated matchup between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes. However, during the show, the attention was shifted from the game to Corso the entire time because of gestures like the crowd chanting “We Love Lee” to his fellow analysts telling Corso what they mean to him. The fans and Gameday wanted to make sure his last show was special as everyone knew that it would never be the same without him.

“Lee Corso was so influential on the game as he provided so much insight,” freshman Thomas Ferraro said. “So I feel without him there, a part of the game will be missing.”

Corso’s final moments of his last show were very emotional and bittersweet. With his last ever headgear selection, he had a difficult choice to make between the Buckeyes and the Longhorns, but he said this was the easiest pick of his career. In a full circle moment, Corso said to give him his first love as he put on the Buckeye’s mascot head. This was a beautiful moment because when he made his first ever headgear selection back in 1996, he had picked none other than the Buckeyes to win as he put on their mascot’s head for the first time. 

This moment and many others will be cherished by all college football fans as Lee Corso will forever be missed being seen on the set of College Gameday every Saturday.