Pat McAfee is a man of many talents. In addition to having had a successful career in the NFL as a Pro Bowl punter and parlaying that on-field success into post-career fame as a sports media personality, McAfee has also spent some time in the world of sports entertainment with the WWE. And while McAfee often blends the work he does for ESPN with the work he's done with WWE, never before has McAfee delivered a monologue that sounded more like a top-tier wrestling promo than he did today in Harrisonburg, Virginia in front of hundreds, if not thousands of fans of the James Madison football program. You could even hear the ‘What!' chants echoing out, evoking memories of vintage Stone Cold Steve Austin.
This place is AWESOME #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/cbRt2F0mhY
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 17, 2023
Now I'll be the first to admit I've never been the biggest Pat McAfee guy, but anyone who goes after the NCAA as fearlessly and unapologetically as McAfee just did (live on ESPN, nonetheless) gets a big boost in my book. This segment was just an absolute masterclass in highlighting both why the NCAA is so broken, and also why college sports are so damn fun.
McAfee is right: it is totally ridiculous that the James Madison football team, which is currently undefeated, is ineligible to compete in a bowl game simply because they are still only in their second year in the FBS. It doesn't matter that James Madison is ranked 18th in the country, boasts a massive point differential, and has already beaten teams in the ACC, Mountain West and Conference USA the last two seasons. No matter what happens the rest of the way, the NCAA has already denied James Madison's waiver to compete in a bowl game this year.
(Go ahead and cue those chants again)
But man, how about the energy from that crowd? It reminds me of when I was a junior at Florida Gulf Coast University during the Eagles ‘Dunk City' Sweet Sixteen run in 2013. You walked around the campus, and you just felt like your school was on top of the sports world.
Right now, the James Madison football team is… whether the NCAA wants to allow it, or not.