Lainey Wilson had the credentials to be a strong Week 1 Celebrity Guest Picker on College GameDay, but her role on Saturday morning went well beyond the pick segment.
The Grammy Award-winning country artist from Baskin, Louisiana performed for the GameDay crowd in Baton Rouge ahead of her appearance on the show. Wilson opened with her take on “Comin’ To Your City,” the College GameDay intro song, and followed it with her hit “Can’t Sit Still.”
College GameDay also highlighted the moment on social media, showing Wilson and the LSU marching band getting the crowd fired up for Week 1.
The reaction online, though, was rough. Fans quickly took aim at both Wilson’s performance and ESPN’s decision to lean on her instead of sticking with the show’s traditional opening.
“That was….. kinda rough to watch 👀”
“Sounds like a banjo being attacked by a rabid bear”
“That opening stunk, what was wrong with the traditional start of the show? Whoever thought up that change needs a long time out.”
“Garbage. No clips, sound was shit.
Go back to the ORIGINAL first year edition. Every year you have tried to improve it and have made it worse every year!”
“Why. Why ruin the beginning of the show. Should have just let the band play.”
If there was any silver lining in the fan response, it was that some viewers still preferred Wilson’s segment to hearing more from Pat McAfee.
“Not great. Still better than listening to Pat Mcafee talk over everyone for 4 hours”
“Terrible. Least enthusiastic crowd I’ve ever seen.
ESPN has ruined the best pregame show in sports by making it the McAfee show 2.0 and ruining the intro. You don’t have to fix things that aren’t broke”
Wilson’s game picks will get another chance to land better with the audience when College GameDay rolls into kickoff between Oregon State and No. 23 Houston at 12:00 p.m.
E.T. on ESPN. At the same time, East Carolina and Alabama will get underway on ABC, while North Texas and the reigning champion Indiana Hoosiers get going on FOX.
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College GameDay Took A Strange Turn Before LSU Clemson Even Kicked Off
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When GameDay came back on the air, it did so from an empty theater instead of a packed scene, leaving the show without the fan energy that usually makes Baton Rouge such a showcase. The interruption and move were noticed quickly by viewers and commentators, turning what should have been a clean lead-in to LSUs big matchup into an odd, stop-and-start production before the game even began. [Read more 🡒]