One of college football's greats is hanging up his cleats for good. Or rather, he's hanging up his headset. Lee Corso, famed ESPN personality and widely considered the father of College GameDay, made his final appearance on the show. Corso showed up on the GameDay coverage of the Texas Longhorns against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Despite being one of the most highly anticipated games of the Saturday slate, most fans tuned in for Corso's final appearance on the show. One of these fans is actor Matthew McConaughey, who showed up to the game to support Corso as well as his Texas Longhorns. McConaughey posted a photo with the former College GameDay host to show his appreciation.
Corso made his mark on the college football scene in 1996. During the College GameDay showing covering a game between Ohio State and Penn State, the analyst wore the headgear of the Buckeyes' mascot Brutus to show his pick for the game. Since then, the wearing of his team's headgear became Corso's signature, making more than 250 picks over the course of his career using that method.
It was only fitting, then, that Corso's final appearance would come in Columbus, Ohio: where he first debuted his now-iconic gimmick. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day honored Corso with a special helmet that featured a Buckeye leaf for every time he picked them on the show.
The icon decided to pick the Buckeyes by wearing Brutus' head one final time. Like with most of his picks, Corso proved to be prophetic: the Buckeyes ended up beating the Arch Manning-led Texas football team 14-7 in their home opener.
The other major talking point of the game was Arch Manning's college football debut as Texas' starting quarterback. Unlike Corso's fairy tale ending, Manning had a nightmarish debut for the Longhorns. Manning may have finished with 170 yards on a 56% completion rate, but he was held to just 38 yards before his only scoring drive early in the fourth. By that point, the Buckeyes already held a 14-0 lead, and Texas failed to score again.
