College Football HQ

Rece Davis reacts to Lee Corso's farewell making College GameDay history

Joe Cox|
Rece Davis dropped some thanks after a historic College GameDay farewell to Lee Corso.
Rece Davis dropped some thanks after a historic College GameDay farewell to Lee Corso. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Ohio State Buckeyes

As the new flows in, ESPN and Rece Davis have nothing but gratitude for one more memorable College GameDay moment from Lee Corso. The season premier was the show's farewell to the 90-year-old Corso and it immediately made pregame show history.

The Week 1 College GameDay scored 4.0 million viewers during the three-hour show, making it the most-watched College GameDay episode of all time. Those figures ranked the episode at 1.3 million above any prior regular season episode of College GameDay. Indeed, some estimates indicated that during the final segment of GameDay, when Corso donned a gigantic mascot head one final time, the ESPN viewing figures soared as his as 5.7 million, which would be competitive with ESPN's top games of Week 1. In fact, FOX also aired that segement and the final numbers were even more astonishing.

Corso and College GameDay

Corso came to ESPN off an impressive coaching tenure that fared well at Louisville and Indiana. He had coached a season at Northern Illinois and then coached in the USFL for a season, before that league struggled and ultimately folded.

In 1987, Corso came to ESPN and began working with College GameDay. The show's massive success was an eventual process, with Corso becoming a more set piece of college football culture with each success. In 1993, College GameDay began holding the show at the site of one of the week's most prominent games. In 1996, Corso first donned mascot headgear in affiliation with his selection of a pick from the weekend's games. His first headgear pick was the same as his last-- Brutus the Buckeye of Ohio State.

Corso remained on GameDay even when health problems rocked his life, including a 2009 stroke. His final show was an emotional affair, and in one final stroke of genius, not only did Corso deliver historic ratings, but his picks to win on the show were 6-0 in Week 1.

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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