Penn State Student Cheats System To Con Pat McAfee Out Of $300,000 On ‘College GameDay’

On Saturday morning, a pair of Penn State students each made $150,000 after one of them drilled a 33-yard field goal live on ESPN “College GameDay” as part of Pat McAfee’s weekly field goal challenge.

The challenge first began when McAfee joined the show in 2022, and in the early years, few contestants took home the money, with some even ending in disaster.

Recently, it seems as if more and more contestants have made the kick, draining McAfee’s wallet in the process. But on Saturday morning, one contestant took things to a new level by rigging the system.

Penn State Student Wisely Games ‘College GameDay’ Kicking Contest

Penn State student William won the opportunity to take the kick by being one of the first 300 people on set for “College GameDay.” The kick taker is then selected by a random draw of those 300 students.

However, William, a finance major, told McAfee that he didn’t want to take the kick because he wasn’t a very good kicker. Instead, he brought in a ringer in the form of a student named Carson, who just so happens to have played high school soccer and serves as a manager for the Nittany Lions’ nationally ranked women’s soccer program.

Carson proceeded to step up and absolutely pipe the kick right down the uprights, taking home a jaw-dropping $300,000 after McAfee said that he would double the original $150,000 offer.

Now look, on one hand, it’s quick thinking from my man William. As a fellow Penn Stater, it’s nice to see that the current crop of students are also pretty dang smart.

But this absolutely should not be allowed. The whole point of the contest is that it is difficult because most people are bad at kicking footballs! If you can simply call in someone who is good at kicking, then a 33-yard field goal becomes a good bit easier!

Is that a hater take? Maybe! Am I happy to see Pat McAfee’s exorbitant wealth being transferred to college students?! Of course! But the contest loses a good bit of novelty if it’s just good kickers nailing a field goal week after week.