"Living in Our Own Dream," How Two Vanderbilt Fans and Pat McAfee Combined for Special College Gameday Moment
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NASHVILE—Pat McAfee stepped through the patted down grass behind College Gameday’s stage on Vanderbilt’s Wyatt Lawn and was stopped.
McAfee was the most interactive of Gameday’s crew of talent throughout the day as they passed through their backstage lane and were greeted by Vanderbilt fans with “special guest” passes, so Sam Banks decided to shoot his shot.
When the College Gameday analyst passed Banks, he was greeted by two phone screens. One of which had “BLACK” spelled out on a Snapchat, while the other had “GOLD” typed out in a similar way.
“As a longtime Vanderbilt fan, you’re looking to spread the word of the ‘Dores,” Banks told Vandy on SI. “He was looking for chants to say, obviously, because he was up there saying Anchor and we love ‘Anchor Down,’ but we were looking for a chance to expand on that.”
McAfee had an earpiece in as he passed Burns and Mark Pyburn—a CAA Sports Agency employee and former Vanderbilt baseball grad assistant—but saw their message and removed anything that would prevent him from hearing them as they asked him for a favor.
Burns and Pyburn explained that they wanted McAfee to start the chant by yelling “BLACK” and that the crowd would finish it with “GOLD.” McAfee had to vet them out, though.
“All I say is ‘BLACK,” McAfee asked them before Banks responded that upon those words, everyone would say “GOLD,” “Sounds a little racist.”
The interaction left some uncertainty as to whether McAfee would use the prompt on stage as the show concluded with the picks segment, but as he walked away Pyburn was confident that something would come of he and Banks’ efforts.
It was almost as if McAfee and Pyburn had an unspoken understanding.
“After the conversation we had, there was a look that Pat gave us that we knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time,” Pyburn said. ““Having a figure like Pat McAfee walk by, Sam and I knew that this was our opportunity to make sure he was aware of the loyalty of Vandy faithful.”
Vanderbilt’s College Gameday experience finally came on Saturday as a result of Clark Lea’s efforts to turn this from a perennial loser to a 6-1 team for the first time since 1950. Saturday marks the first time since 1947 that Vanderbilt will take the field as an AP Top 10 team.
The Commodores received four of the five picks from the College Gameday panel–including one and a recruiting pitch to five-star quarterback Jared Curtis from longtime fan and comedian Nate Bargatze. McAfee was the final picker of the show and intro’d his selection with an ode to Missouri and the talent of the roster that Tigers’ coach Eli Drinkwitz has built. By the end of his pick he had fulfilled the two Vanderbilt fans’ requests.
“Black,” McAfee yelled from the stage.
“Gold,” the crowd responded with a roar as they appeared to comprehend the idea that McAfee was about to finalize his Vanderbilt pick.
Perhaps the crowd as a whole didn’t realize the significance of the moment, but Banks and Pyburn stood behind the stage reacting as if Vanderbilt had already pulled off a win over Missouri.
“It was happening at the cusp of the hype of the place,” Banks said, “We knew it was either happening then, or it never would.”
“When it did happen,” Pyburn added, “It was like we were living in our own dream.”
Perhaps the dream could continue into the afternoon as Pyburn and Banks enter FirstBank Stadium with the intention of watching Vanderbilt win as 2.5-point favorites over No. 15 Missouri. Their day has already been made, though.
The program they root for isn’t satisfied with just being the destination of College Gameday and the celebration it was of what they’ve built, but the show’s setting meant something to these two unlikely subjects of stardom.
“We haven’t had Gameday since 2008, Vandy faithful knows how much this means to the program and all the people of Nashville, Tennessee,” Pyburn said. “Anchor Down, this was awesome.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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