Lee Corso Doesn’t Want to Make Headgear Pick for Ohio State-Notre Dame

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The first full Saturday of college football features a matchup between two top five teams with a ton of history, with No. 2 Ohio State hosting No. 5 Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. ET. Naturally, ESPN’s College GameDay is in Columbus on Saturday morning ahead of that monumental game.
At the end of each edition of GameDay, Lee Corso dons headgear—often a mascot head—representing the team he’s picking to win the game that is hosting the show that week. That tradition began with a show at Ohio State ahead of a matchup with Penn State in 1996, with Corso putting on the head of Brutus Buckeye.
In a conversation with fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit posted to Twitter before Saturday’s show, Corso revealed that he’s having such a tough time making a selection today that he may go without making a headgear pick altogether.
Herbstreit asked Corso to preview his pick for the week, and the legendary ESPN personality is clearly still working through things on the Buckeyes vs. Fighting Irish.
“This is a tough game for me to pick, because Ohio State, I got Brutus you know, but I’m Catholic. I can’t pick against Notre Dame,” Corso said.
After Herbstreit reminded Corso that Ohio State was his national title pick ahead of the season, Corso said that he planned to walk off the set without making a headgear pick.
“I’m not gonna pick against Catholics, and I can’t pick against Brutus, so I’m losing,” Corso said.
Could this be the first week ever LC doesn't make a headgear pick???
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 3, 2022
It's hard for him to pick between Brutus and the Irish! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/inRi4Bm8dO
After Herbstreit said he may not allow Corso to go without making his traditional headgear pick, Corso leaned into the camera and whispered, “Buckeyes, against the Catholics,” wincing as the video ends.
If Corso gets his way, viewers may see him pass on a pick, though it sounds like if he has to make one, he’s going with the 16-point favorite Buckeyes.
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Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a season as senior college football writer at Athlon Sports and previous three-year run at SI as a writer and editor for the Breaking and Trending News team. When he’s not watching a game, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater. Dan has a bachelor’s degree in writing and rhetoric from Syracuse.