Pat McAfee's field goal challenge led to the worst attempt yet by South Carolina student
Despite a number of players nailing field goals from 45 yards and further to begin the season, being a college kicker remains incredibly tough.
Pat McAfee has been on a mission to prove this for more than a year now.
The ESPN personality and College GameDay panelist gives one student on campus a chance to nail a 33-yard field goal for a cash prize each week. Some attempts go better than others, but the lesson remains the same: those who criticize kickers are often the least equipped to make a field goal themselves.
Such was the case in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday, where McAfee gave a Gamecocks student named Joshua a chance to win $45,000. On top of that, music superstar and Gamecocks superfan Darius Rucker promised to add another $15K on top to bring the prize total up to $60,000.
Maybe that was too much pressure, maybe Joshua just isn’t cut out for kicking. Either way, what followed could only be described as a disaster as the student’s shoe flew further than the ball.
"Worst kick of all time!" in Pat McAfee's Kicking Contest on College GameDay in Columbia. pic.twitter.com/OJV3NTr7Up
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 14, 2024
The Kicking Contest on @CollegeGameDay is something that @PatMcAfeeShow pushed to do, and it has been a HUGE weekly addition to the show. Always unpredictable and fun. @KirkHerbstreit's reactions are always great too!
Today's kicker was not good, but … put it in the Louvre. pic.twitter.com/gO0svBnzwM
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) September 14, 2024
The ball went straight for maybe an inch or two before veering hard left and probably struck an unassuming passerby.
McAfee called it the “worst kick of all time” and if it had taken place in a game, he may be right.