Pat McAfee Is OFFICIALLY Back With College GameDay, Explains The Drama Around The Decision

[Music] oh we can sense it can't we football season is right around the corner you J oh [Music] wait you got to do it I've had one of the luckiest runs in the history of mankind [Applause] I was allowed to be a part of the multi-time Emmy award-winning institution that is college game day let a naysayer know not what I thought professionals right in the middle of his that's all right you almost lost me well my contract came up after living a dream alongside that crew that is just as talented off camera as they are on camera I thought long and hard am I the right person to be doing this incredible gig there are millions of people that would love be sitting in my seat am I the right guy for it is this what I want to doid Alex no godbody killed a kid and no oh God good effort the worst kick we have ever seen and the only thing that I kept coming back to is hell [ __ ] yeah give me Alabama to [Applause] break I'm lucky I'm honored I'm humbled I'm grateful and I'm back [Music] give me a hell yeah it is officially official as Adam Pierce that bald stoe would say I am returning to college game day and although I don't want to make a big deal out of it I know it is a big [ __ ] deal that it's happening there was some drama obviously that started lingering we had chatted about it me Burke and Jimmy obviously whenever the licensing of the show uh conversation was taking place then some lawyer at ESPN tried to be a super genius I closed Sicilian him I ended up being a free agent and it was a real moment of looking in the mirror and saying am I the right person for this job obviously the athletic poll came out last year I think it was like 50% of the people were like get this guy the hell off of college game day I'm a college game day fan I enjoyed waking up on Saturday mornings and watching the show that propels us into college football Saturday and inevitably into NFL Sunday so for those people to have a terrible morning because of my existence was certainly something that weighed very heavy on Nish here your dumbass Sports doe heart that's for real brother because we had the show Monday through Friday obviously it's three hours every single day we're lucky to do it we create it we produce it there's zero people from journalism school here we are kind of doing our own thing but it's a lot of work on my own agent I'm My Own representative I'm My Own strategizer I'm My Own schemer alongside the great boys that I have working here so it's a lot of effort Monday through Friday Saturday mornings used to be the only time I was really able to sleep in and get AR rest then when you get offered the opportunity to join the college game day you can't say no to that you're talking about one of the greatest shows in the history of Television you're talking about one of the greatest shows in the history of sports media Kirk herbstreet good friend of ours now this point will join us in the second hour was one of the driving forces behind getting me on that program and then whenever I got there I fell in love with it how could you not the entire pageantry of college football is on display for 3 hours before the games even start million and millions of people are watching every single day or every single Saturday hoping that they can learn about the you know the entire story of college football that year so I took it as a great honor I was very lucky I was very thankful to be there I enjoyed every single stop that we made every college town that we stopped through every restaurant we went to every small little Dive Bar I'd have some beers at the conversations alongside everybody at the desk and the people that work behind the camera are just as cool and talented as the people that are on camera so it was like I was a part of their family but but did I want to continue to ruin these people Saturdays and did I want to maybe sleep in on a Saturday morning during football season with my baby girl obviously as she's continuing to grow and evolve pooped on the floor yesterday yeah good work decided go no diaper let her run a little free she sat down pooped right on the floor I was like that's hey I like it we got some grp we're able to do that entire thing but she's going to grow so do I want to be away it was an actual decision that was all based on not on my love of college football because obviously I fell in love with it over the last few years I've been incredibly lucky not because of my love for the people of college game day I enjoy the [ __ ] out of all those people uh that are a part of that entire family but mostly because like do I want to sign up to hear you know in my mentions how terrible of a person I am by people that will never understand the type of human I am is that what I want to sign up for we're doing okay everywhere else and every time I thought about it I was like what I get the opportunity to do this I'm still getting the opportunity to do this I need to do this uh so all the way back I think I'm happy can put that conversation to bed I'm excited to be there to that lawyer you're a genius buddy you did great caused a lot of [ __ ] but you know ultimately in the end the stooge in a USA tank top and if I would have had Jorts on uh could work you every time in that negotiating table just remember that and never ever forget it and to all you journalists that are talking about it it's like I'd love to sit in the room with you one-on-one to and see how it ends up but to the college football fans thank you for embracing me and my stupidity and uh I can't wait to get back on the road with the entire crew on Saturdays throughout fall 12 game or 12 team playoff to this year hell yeah huge going to be the biggest year yet and uh already started all the research and scouting from uh NCAA 2K college football 25 it's a beautiful time to be alive we'll have Coach Matt rule in the second hour we got a chance to catch up with him yesterday that's a 37-minute convo about college football and the Nebraska Corn Huskers and everything they got going herb Street will join us in about eight minutes Michael lardi will join us obviously friend of the program paon who's been a GM in the NFL and everything he was a part of this entire process decision- making he's one of the people I call whenever I uh hey lbo I'm about to go sit down with blah blah blah this is how I feel is this the right way to feel when he's like the best o also think about this right right and I'm like thank you lombo then you call Nick Khan obviously president WWE I'm like Nick I want to punch these people in the mouth and he's like well what instead of that why don't we say this and it's like thank you thank you thank you so I have a lot of people that have helped me get to this point I have a lot of people that have wanted me to uh rejoin college game day in the fact that we're able to do it I'm excited about it and uh thank you to everybody for the interest thank you to the puppets who are going to write terrible things about this thank you to the college football fans who don't think that I've earned my place at that desk I agree but I hopefully will by the end of this season and I think I'm gonna win you over with what we're going to do on Saturday mornings it's going to be a blast coach Nick sabin's there now yeah we have a pretty good relationship uh o oh Sabin and I so it should be a fun time the toic table is here at Boston Conor at Tai Schmidt uh what we've been able to do with college football world over the last couple years has been some of the coolest [ __ ] of all time could you imagine not doing that this year I actually thought about that like a lot whenever this whole thing was happening it's like how would how could we ever decide to miss out on those moments college football has been very good to us oh yeah unbelievable and I I didn't go to like a big college football school actually there wasn't college football at my school so really when I was kind of ingratiated into that entire Community it was when you got into game day and really kind of watching all of it and just look at what you know ESPN specifically has now with the SEC with Texas joining and Oklahoma joining and some of the matchups that we're getting from legitimately week one not even including Ireland like take Ireland out which is going to be incredible Georgia Tech Florida State people are calling it the gimmick game but this is huge for Florida State and Georgia Tech at the end of the year also they're trying to cement themselves as like hey our programs go in a different direction but we're going to be celebrating like Ireland in that exact going to be good football but that's going to be a celebration of like Ireland and international how big the sport is but you this game obviously Florida State's involved so people are going to want to watch I don't think it's a four string quarterback which is good no right which is obviously be their STS is a big deal and Florida state has talent and obviously we were a big fan of what they're building down there playoffs are right last year just so we all have that understanding going into Dublin but you're right every week There's bangers after bangers after bangers after bangers shout out to Sheamus shout out to Ireland and when you look at like what the end of the season is going to be you mentioned the 12 team playoff like those I don't think at least myself I don't think I can fully kind of comprehend what those home playoff off environments are going to be like because obviously you know we did Alabama Texas last year and that and that was a massive game in Tuscaloosa obvious SAR coming back against Sabin all those story lines but when you add the fact that it's a win or go home game like that is going to be incredible so this might be you know the greatest if yeah this will be the greatest college football season that there probably has ever been yeah and they're going to tell stories of um you know past traditional games and rivalry games that have taken place and we've missed some of those in the transition into this one hopefully they'll all be able to get back into the schedule but this does have a chance to live up to the billing of hey let's make this the biggest college football year of all time and uh pump to be just a tiny little part of that entire thing yeah and people can complain about that stuff but then you also have to think like we're going to get Ohio State and USC like this will be the first time we're getting that for every year you know most most years so like the the new rivalries that we're going to get I mean like Conor say with like the big matchups and it's not one of those things but people used to always whine about like hey these big time programs they play all these cupcakes in the early season and you know we don't get any games that we actually want to see until the conference play starts I mean we're talking about week zero week two Michigan and Texas play each other like it it really is it's just week after week like people people want to complain but I think after this year is over like the traditionalists maybe will still think that but I think most college football fans are going to be like wow this is this is incredible this is what it's going to be like every single year starting this year and we're just a tiny little part of it yeah exactly how about our watch belongs man yeah I think those are back not I think those are back and I think they're all just going to be playoff games yeah it's which I mean those are those are so about how lucky we are in that video I said how lucky I was like four times foxy had to edit out a few of them because I understand how lucky we are to be even asked to be a part of that show but now that we are like let's go enjoy the [ __ ] out of this entire nine-year NFL vet sweet hoodie Dar J Butler dbut college ball is on fire right now especially with the game leading into a season leading in 12 game playoff leading to Mass massive Marquee matchups that we haven't seen in a long time it's going to be a beautiful thing football's beautiful man we we've gotten uh gotten to do a lot of cool [ __ ] those games those field passes nothing like a Cotton Bowl U Red River rivalry obviously been in bama but then been in Rose Bowl you know hard balls last you know last college game maybe he goes back Sabin last collegiate game before he retires um obviously huge game then go into the national championships as well like those experiences the the the pretty much Red Zone watch along we had here in the Thunderdome uh it's been dope man glad glad to see you're back I know a lot of people definitely were worri you would not be back and there's a lot of people excited I don't I don't oh yeah remember we don't we don't do this any we let those into into our real algorithm but um I'm glad you're back man big big news congratulations hey I appreciate you thank you so much and thank you to everybody at ESPN obviously that was uh very patient with this because I don't know if anybody especially for sure like game day with how massive and fresh off an Emmy and everything and I'm tell tell you the people that work there are so talented like so so talented and it's like uh I don't I don't think there's anybody that's ever been just like man I don't think I'm the right guy like I don't think I'm the right guy for your show I don't think I'm the right guy for your show and they're like uh yeah look look just remember and Herb Street would send me like a text like of a video of me walking up on the stage in like some college saying hello to me before we even go live he's like let's make sure we remember huh let's make sure we're remembering this type of stuff because it was real I I there you know with the way life is and with where we are now very lucky to be where we are once again very grateful for all this will not be happening forever so I understand that we're in the middle of it and it's very awesome but with the amount of people that just bury me and murder me on a regular basis like I have I am on the internet like it's not just as easy as just turning off your mentions like I have to know what's going on literally everywhere so I am on my phone on a very regular basis so whenever there's just an onslaught of me being the biggest douche or worst human on earth at one particular time of my week every single week it's like maybe for the good of my life and for maybe my happiness and or everything maybe I just remove that as I try to survive this thing while also kind of living what I preach which is like you have to enjoy every moment enjoy every day it's a part of our show's Vibes is like enjoy enjoy enjoy but whenever you're just taking nukes literally all it gets difficult to remind yourself of that especially whenever Life Starts happening so that was literally the only thing that I was thinking about on whether or not we're going to go back always considered an incredible honor but it's like do I just want to get murdered by like 12 colleges alumni students football I mean just every single week cuz we got to pick games at the end of that get to pick these are all get to things but I also get to get killed after every single week if we say anything that is any bit entertaining but potentially a little shitalking in the middle of it as well well and I think like a lot of people don't understand you know cuz like we say St like there's there's one thing with like if you're [ __ ] on someone's NFL team and you're getting like the heat from that and the mention it's like all right whatever like that's part of it charge to the game exactly charge it to the game but like it's it's it's it's not cool what happens but it's also one of the reasons that college football is awesome is like when you come at someone's school like people take it as like a personal front to like their family their legacy their livelihoods and yeah they say some pretty reprehensible [ __ ] and start sending stuff to my house exactly like it's like do I and I've asked Herby numerous times and I haven't got a chance to ask Lee about it because every conversation I have with Lee is just like super positive him gassing me up all the time so I don't really get to into it but like Herby and I we have some like real conversations about all I'm like how have you you how have you been able to do this for you got to be one of the most mentally tough humans of all time and he goes oh I just block it out you know just block you got to block it out got to block it out it's like well I can't you know I I have to be on my f like I have to be on the internet with our daily show because like things are just happening all the time and it's like Herby's like come on come on you'll get through it you'll get through it and he said all these people that hate you too they'll they'll they'll start to like you and in most situations in my life I've learned that that is the case this one is not it's not it's been a tough group to crack it's been a tough group to crack