One of the legends of CFB is finally hanging it up after week 1 of this upcoming season. When you think of college football and a name that comes to mind when thinking about the sport, Lee Corso has to be one of the few that come to mind.
He might not have been the best coach or player, people often forget that he did play and coach, but he was definitely one of CFB’s best analysts throughout the years and helped grow the games popularity into what it is today. Let’s take a look at some of his moments over the years:
The first moment to mention has to be his first pick on college Gameday back in 1993. This was the first time “College Gameday” to go to an actual campus to do their analysis and picks for the week. The matchup was Florida St vs Notre DAme which was a number 1 versus 2 matchup. Corso ended up picking Florida St, which he was an alumni for, and Notre Dame ended up winning the game 31-24. Corso started off his career of picks on Gameday with a loss but hey no one's perfect.
Next moment had to be his first time putting on a mascot headgear, which was three years later from his first pick in 1996. He put on a Brutus head to pick the Buckeyes to win their matchup.
In the beginning though, it wasn’t smooth sailing to get the permission to put on the mascot’s headgear. According to Kirk Herbstreit, it took a lot of back and forth with the university to get the final approval he can borrow the mascot's headgear. Corso actually asked Herbstreit about it at first thinking he had some leverage for the university to say yes but it ended up being some high level negotiations to get the ok. Crazy to think that it almost never happened because let’s just say Ohio State said no then who knows if it ever happens or possibly just farther down the line in his career.
Another moment to bring up was his accidental “F-bomb” on live TV before making his pick one year. His filter hasn’t always been the best and he is remembered for always being his funny self. It was a game at Houston and they were versing SMU.
As he was making his pick he went to grab the SMU megaphone to pick them to win and changed course, tossing the megaphone to the ground and putting the Houston headgear on instead. Nice little reversal made by Corso and caused the crowd to cheer while everyone on the set was laughing when he said the “F-bomb” after tossing the megaphone. His personality is one of a kind and he won’t change that for anyone.
The next moment to highlight was when he had a nice, emotional homecoming for Lee Corso as the coach returning back to Indiana last year where he coached for 9 years. This was Indiana’s first time on Gameday and Corso picked the Hoosiers to beat the Washington Huskies.
Indiana made it Lee Corso day for the University to remember him as the first coach to win a bowl game for their team. It was so special for Corso as you can see him getting emotional on the set and it was such a cool idea for the university to do this for him to honor how much good he did for the university.
Lee Corso is a special person and he has brought so many people happiness over the years of him hosting College Gameday. He had a lot of great ideas and it was awesome to see the evolution over the years from the set to the actual people associated with the broadcast.
Gameday is in good hands with Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Pat Mcafee, etc. Nothing will ever match the times Corso was apart of the cast but after he leaves his legacy will live on. It will be interesting to see if they still do the headgear for the final pick or not. They may want to leave that for his legacy. He will be greatly missed by the viewers and college football as a whole. Enjoy retirement Lee Corso and thank you.