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Pat McAfee, Nick Saban Sing ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ Drawing Boos From Pitt Fans

Pat McAfee’s singalong did not get the crowd going.

Tyler Lauletta

Pat McAfee and Nick Saban serenade the Pittsburgh crowd.
Pat McAfee and Nick Saban serenade the Pittsburgh crowd. / @PatMcAfeeShow / X
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Everyone knew we’d been in for a treat with ESPN’s College GameDay heading to Pittsburgh this weekend.

While Pat McAfee is originally from the Pittsburgh area, he played his college football at West Virginia—a rival to the Panthers. He is still a proud Yinzer, but his time with the Mountaineers may be best left unmentioned when playing to the Pittsburgh crowd.

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Of course, McAfee instead steered right into the skid. While looking at potential upsets on the Saturday slate during a GameDay segment, McAfee backed West Virginia in front of the Pittsburgh crowd, prompting boos. Rather than backing off, McAfee leaned in further, putting his arm around the shoulder of Nick Saban, a West Virginia-native himself, before encouraging him to join him in a rendition of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which brought the boos to a new level.

It wasn’t the only time during the morning that the Pittsburgh crowd would bring up McAfee’s ties to the Mountaineers.

Still, the boos and jeers were all in the good-natured fun that GameDay brings on its tour across the college football world. Where will the show be heading next week?

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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