Thirty-eight years after making his broadcasting debut on the premiere episode of College GameDay, Lee Corso made his final appearance on the show from Ohio Stadium for Saturday’s marquee matchup between Texas and Ohio State.
In a full-circle moment, Corso’s final headgear pick was the same as the first one he made 29 years ago. He put on the Brutus Buckeye head to indicate he was picking Ohio State to defeat Texas.
Right before Corso made his pick, the Ohio State marching band honored him by spelling out his name on the field at Ohio Stadium.
The final headgear pick turned out to be correct, as Ohio State held on for a 14-7 victory.
Also of note, Corso managed to correctly predict Florida State—his alma mater—would upset No. 8 Alabama, as the Seminoles opened the season with an impressive 31-17 victory.
Corso, who turned 90 on Aug. 7, announced in April he would be retiring after working the first episode of ESPN’s weekly preview show for the 2025 season.
In celebration of his work on the show and his career in college football, which dates back to 1957 when he was a graduate assistant at Florida State, Corso was saluted by fans and colleagues.
Saturday’s telecast kicked off with GameDay host Rece Davis’ traditional intro, followed by a special banner unveiling from the crowd in Columbus featuring a picture of Corso and his “Not so fast, my friend” catchphrase.
Corso was donning a tuxedo and bowtie for the occasion, only to be outdone by his longtime partner Kirk Herbstreit with a custom jacket.
Herbstreit also posted videos showing himself and Corso over the years, as well as their final pre-show chat before Saturday’s broadcast began.
Ohio State is a fitting place for Corso’s final telecast since that was the site of his first headgear pick on Oct. 5, 1996. The Buckeyes made him look smart with a dominant 38-7 win over Penn State, and a tradition was born.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day also came out to present Corso with a custom “Coach Corso” helmet complete with Buckeye stickers.
Fan and colleague tributes were also pouring in for Corso during his final telecast:
Since ESPN started taking College GameDay on the road for the biggest game of the weekend in 1993, Ohio State has been the most frequent team involved and host site.
Columbus has hosted the show 27 times, including Saturday. The Buckeyes have been one of the two teams involved in the game 68 times. Alabama is second in both categories (60 appearances, 19 times hosting).
Corso has made 430 headgear picks over the course of his career prior to Saturday, with a record of 286-144 in those games. He has only posted losing records with the headgear picks three times in 29 seasons.
Brutus Buckeye is the most frequent headgear he has used, having donned it 46 times including Saturday.
Prior to his work on College GameDay, Corso spent 15 seasons as a head coach at the college level and one year coaching the Orlando Renegades of the USFL in 1985.
Corso was the final member of College GameDay‘s original on-air team still working on the show. The original 1987 team consisted of himself, host Tim Brando and fellow analyst Beano Cook.
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