Gus Johnson Apologizes for Over-the-Top Call at End of Indiana-Penn State Thriller

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Gus Johnson has a penchant for enthusiastic announcing in the big moment.
Johnson's energetic nature comes through the microphone each and every week, and it was no different last Saturday when he called the game-winning touchdown in No. 2 Indiana's comeback win over Penn State.
INDIANA BROKE GUS JOHNSON pic.twitter.com/HV17VAZDyZ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 8, 2025
During Saturday's telecast of No. 18 Michigan and unranked Northwestern in Chicago, Johnson and his partner Joel Klatt relived the moment, and the popular play-by-play announcer issued an apology for his incoherent excitement at the end of last Saturday's call.
"I was so excited, I lost my stuff. Apologies if I went too far and irritated people," Johnson said with a chuckle.
Klatt then had Fox's producers cue up a reenactment of Johnson's call by the Shepmates—a popular social media duo that hilariously impersonated Johnson's game-winning announcing sequence in the Indiana-Penn State thriller.
Gus Johnson is a big fan of the Shepmates' reenactment of his Indiana-Penn State call, which Fox showed on the Michigan-Northwestern broadcast.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 15, 2025
He also said, "I was so excited, I lost my stuff. Apologies if I went too far and irritated people."🏈🎙️ #CFB https://t.co/QCRvPgbPBH pic.twitter.com/yUT3J381M7
It was peak television.
Long live Gus Johnson.
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Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.
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