GameDay's McAfee: 'Shut up Washington State'

Oct. 1—Who would've thought Washington State would have beef with the premier college football show that's featured its Ol' Crimson flag every episode for more than 20 years?

Eccentric sports personality and College GameDay panelist Pat McAfee fired back at Washington State on ESPN's weekly morning college football show Saturday.

Last week, WSU coach Jake Dickert and former Cougar QB Ryan Leaf took exception to GameDay's Lee Corso allegedly calling their game against Oregon State the "No One Watches Bowl."

One week later, as the hosts mentioned the 292nd straight appearance of the WSU flag, Ol' Crimson, appearing on the show, McAfee said "Who cares?"

"Shut up Washington State," McAfee said. "I'm sick of you wasting time on this show."

McAfee, a former Colts punter who became famous in the sports talk world for his exaggerated personality and sense of humor, is known for his fiery outbursts.

But his response didn't sit too kindly on social media with the Cougar faithful as well as many others nationally. A post on X (formerly known as Twitter) of McAfee's rant had been viewed more than 9.3 million times as of Saturday evening.

WSU and OSU are two programs fighting for survival in the Power Five ranks as their conference crumbles around them.

The Cougars and Beavers have a combined 8-1 record this season — the only loss coming from WSU beating OSU — and three wins against top-25 teams, yet they are the two programs left behind in the Pac-12.

That means WSU and OSU are somewhat of underdog darlings on the national stage, so some called McAfee a "bully" for his comments.

WSU also has a unique relationship with GameDay since Ol' Crimson has appeared on every show since 2003.

"We were showing this flag when they were 1-11 in 2009? How about 2-10 in 2010? You were? That's wild," McAfee said. "So when they sucked, you were showing it every single week on the biggest college football show?"

"Handle success Ryan Leaf."

Fellow show host Desmond Howard also chimed in.

Howard took exception not only to Dickert and WSU, but Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who recently condemned some comments made by former GameDay host Lou Holtz about his team.

"I was just turned off by it," Howard said. "I thought it was thin-skinned, they were hypersensitive and it wasn't their best moments at all."

Another host, Rece Davis, came to the defense of WSU. Davis has publicly said the show's trip to Pullman in 2018 was his favorite stop in the show's history.

"Just wait till you get to the Palouse, they'll win you back over," Davis said.

"I doubt it," McAfee replied.

Dickert last week said he and Corso had a phone call last Sunday and "had a great conversation," putting the moment behind them.

So while things are all peachy between Dickert and Corso, the saga continued at least another week on the national show.

"I think it is my job to stand up for the people of Washington state because I think these decisions greatly impact all of us," Dickert said last week.

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2277, or on Twitter @StephanSports.