The first ESPN College GameDay of the season will be bittersweet for many college football fans. The Aug. 30 broadcast from Columbus before the Ohio State football team opens against Texas will be the final show for legendary analyst Lee Corso.
The former college football coach, who gained acclaim for using mascot headgear to announce his pick for the week’s big game, has been a fixture on the weekly pregame show since 1989. Another tradition of the show is to have a celebrity, usually tied to the host school, drop by to also make their picks.
Celebrity Guest Picker | Percentage Chance | Odds |
LeBron James, NBA Player & Ohio State Fan | 14.3% | +600 |
Matthew McConaughey, Actor & Texas Fan | 13.3% | +650 |
Jack Nicklaus, Former Golfer & Ohio State Alum | 12.5% | +700 |
Chris Fowler, Former College GameDay Host | 12.5% | +700 |
Lee Corso Family Member(s) | 11.1% | +800 |
C.J. Stroud, Former Ohio State QB | 9.1% | +1000 |
John Legend, Singer & Ohio State Fan | 9.1% | +1000 |
The Field | 18.2% | +450 |
As we at BetOhio shed a tear thinking of all the times Coach Corso proudly put on the Brutus the Buckeye head, we also have set up odds on who will join Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban in bidding farewell to Corso ahead of the Buckeyes-Longhorns matchup. This is for fun and won’t be a prop at Ohio sportsbooks.
LeBron James, the legendary basketball star from Akron, has appeared as the celebrity guest picker one other time, on Oct. 25, 2008, according to GameDayCole.com. NBA training camps are not starting until late September, so the star with the Los Angeles Lakers (for now) might be available to drop by the set.
Matthew McConaughey, often seen on the sidelines at Longhorns games, was on GameDay in September 2019. He bleeds burnt orange and the actor/Salesforce pitchman has a movie, “The Lost Bus,” set to come out next month.
Personally, I would like to see either Chris Fowler, the former host of GameDay, or a member of Corso’s family join him on the set for the final time. However, I’m also a sentimentalist at heart.
According to GameDayCole, Corso has a record of 286-144 when donning the mascot head of the team he likes in the upcoming game of the week.
This game will be the big showcase in Week 1 – a win for coach Ryan Day and company will boost Ohio State's national championship odds. But a Buckeyes loss, to a really good Longhorns team and in the era of a 12-team College Football Playoff, should not be too damaging.
We couldn’t post this without some kind of preview for the game itself, which has the potential for being a historic matchup.
The preseason coaches’ poll, which came out last week, listed the Longhorns No. 1 and the Buckeyes at No. 2. If the Associated Press’ Top 25 puts them both at the top, then the game will be the earliest in a season that the two top-ranked teams have met. Fittingly, Ohio State and Texas currently hold that distinction, having met on Sept. 9, 2006.
Oddsmakers at bet365 Ohio Sportsbook have the Buckeyes as a 2.5-point favorite, with BetMGM Ohio Sportsbook setting the total at 48.5 points.
USA Today photo by Joe Maiorana
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Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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