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Pat McAfee predicts massive college football upset in iconic fashion

Ryan Young|
Pat McAfee on the ESPN Gameday last January. Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Pat McAfee on the ESPN Gameday last January. Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Oregon DucksIndiana Hoosiers

The game of the day in college football is No. 7 Indiana playing at No. 3 Oregon in a battle of 5-0 teams at Autzen Stadium.

And with ESPN's College GameDay crew live in Eugene, Oregon, Pat McAfee delivered a prediction for the game with the theatrics to match the stature of the matchup.

McAfee was the last of the GameDay panelists to make his pick after Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Nick Saban and celebrity guest picker Sabrina Ionescu, the former Oregon women's basketball star, had all picked the Ducks.

McAfee then took the spotlight and started by lauding Oregon's athletics success and prowess, building up the pro-Ducks crowd before delivering his prediction for the game.

"Whenever you think about Curt Cignetti's team from JMU and IUP and stuff like that, his teams, they don't get a chance to win these types of games. Indiana last year was certainly a good fairy tale story, but whenever they ran into Ohio State, they (bleep) the bed. And whenever they played Notre Dame, same damn thing - couldn't get a stop.

"So whenever you think about what's happening up here, you think to yourself, 'Heyy-eyyy-eyyy-eyy!'" McAfee said, standing on his chair and leading the GameDay crowd in a rendition of 'Shout,' which Oregon famously plays during games.

"You would think that would scare this year's Cignetti's team. You would think that because Autzen's so damn hard to win in and they don't smoke cigs around here -- they smoke trees around here -- [Indiana QB] Fernando Mendoza has no chance to come in here. I love Oregon, I love Dan Lanning -- I was shirtless with that man this morning -- but my wife is a Hoosier through and through. And so am I, baby. ...

"In the biggest win of Cignetti's career, the Indiana Hoosiers tell the world, 'We're for real.' I'll see you both in the College Football Playoffs -- Indiana gets a win today."

Oregon is a 7.5-point favorite and owns the longest active home winning streak in the FBS at 18 games.

The Ducks, led by Heisman Trophy favorite QB Dante Moore, already have one signature win this season, beating Penn State in double-overtime on the road two weeks ago.

Indiana, led by fellow Heisman candidate QB Fernando Mendoza, made their early statement with a 63-10 win over an Illinois team that was ranked in the top 10 at the time.

Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

As for his reference to being shirtless with Oregon coach Dan Lanning, that was another viral clip from the GameDay set Saturday.

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Ryan Young
RYAN YOUNG

Ryan Young joins CFB HQ On SI after 15 years as a college football beat writer, including the last seven years in Los Angeles covering the USC Trojans for Rivals. He previously covered Florida and Coastal Carolina after four years at the Kansas City Star. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland.

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