Joe Scarborough used a chunk of election-day airtime Tuesday to take aim at Pat McAfee and ESPN’s “College GameDay,” arguing the show has drifted from college football and turned too much attention on itself.
Scarborough, an Alabama fan and the host of “Morning Joe,” said he’s grown tired of what he sees as McAfee’s influence on the long-running ESPN staple.
“I’ve just had enough of this Pat McAfee ruining ‘College GameDay,’” Scarborough said of the ESPN program. “I look forward to waking up on Saturday mornings and watching that. ... It’s like he’s melting down. ...
“It’s really ESPN. I mean, they run their company the way they want to run their company, but man, it is a shame for the viewer.”
He also pointed to McAfee’s recent run-in with the University of Utah.
“Maybe you aren’t having to be yelling at people and being freaked out because two kids in Utah put up signs or say something that might offend you,” Scarborough said.
McAfee has said the fallout from the Utah episode has included death threats. In a post on X, he wrote, “I’ve stayed away from my mentions and DMs this month since these back to back days but ...
I’m sure if I went in there now, I’d find some wishes for and threats of death for me. ‘Don’t read them.’
They’re everywhere.”
McAfee also said he felt “uncomfortable” after the University of Utah posted a since-deleted video of students “dogging” him. He said the university account’s video was inciteful against him.
“I do get a bit (expletive) up when a couple days after The New York Times releases a ‘WE ARE ALLOWED TO AND SHOULD HATE THIS GUY’ piece, a university puts a video out from their own page, indicating, ‘We think he’s a corny creep here.’ It’s a weird time,” McAfee posted. “The things that get said about what my daughter and son and wife deserve are all rather wild as well.”
Scarborough made clear he still enjoys the rest of the show’s football crew.
“I love watching Rece (Davis),” he said. “I love watching those guys and watching Nick (Saban) on there talking. ...
Kirk Herbstreit’s amazing. Desmond (Howard) - they’re all great.
And they’re all being eclipsed by ESPN’s just insatiable desire to give this guy more time.”
McAfee also referenced an experience before “College GameDay” in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2025, the show’s first episode after Kirk was killed. He said security concerns came up over a possible “copycat” situation because “GameDay” was “the next huge gathering on a campus.”
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The Panthers 80-61 win over Buffalo was the kind of turnaround that can change the mood around a team in a hurry. After trailing by 13 at halftime, Pitt flipped the game with a dominant second half and got a major lift from Georgia Tech transfer Baye Ndongo, who controlled the paint, and freshman Chase Foster, who added 20 points as Jeff Capels group found its footing after a shaky start.
Now comes the part that matters even more for Pitts immediate outlook: whether that surge was a one-night fix or a sign of something sturdier before Penn State arrives. The comeback was Pitts biggest since the 2009-10 season, and it showed the Panthers can recover when things go sideways, but the real test is whether they can bring that same edge and consistency into a rivalry matchup where early mistakes are much harder to erase. [Read more 🡒]