Lee Corso is the last remaining figure still on College GameDay who was there for its ESPN debut in 1987. The 89-year-old Corso has been a key part of the show since, including following its defining 1993 decision to go on the road each week, and his mascot head picks in particular have often been one of the most popular elements of the program. But host Rece Davis announced Friday that Corso won’t be on the show Saturday in Eugene for Ohio State-Oregon, the second straight week he’s missing it:
Last week in Berkeley for Miami-Cal, Davis also discussed Corso being “under the weather” and missing the show:
Of course, Corso has missed a number of College GameDay shows over the years. He missed one at Utah last October due to a “family matter,” and missed at least three games in 2022 (at Texas, Kansas, and Clemson) over health issues. And 2021 was his first year back on set following appearances from his backyard in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.
There was some discussion coming into this year on if Corso would even return following ESPN’s hire of another prominent former coach in Nick Saban. But ESPN did indeed bring him back, and he made it clear last December he wants to keep doing GameDay as much as possible. And fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit spoke up in defense of Corso (who has faced notable health challenges, including with aftereffects from a 2009 stroke) last December as well.
There’s been a ton of praise for Corso over the years, and he’s provided some of GameDay‘s most memorable moments for mascot heads (which he spoke to AA about in 2016, the 20th anniversary of his first one) and a lot more (including duck moments). He’s beloved by his coworkers, and was key to the show’s 1993 move to the road and how that was received by fans. And he still makes some good points and picks, albeit sometimes with some flubs. It’s notable to see him missing another week, and a back-to-back one; we’ll see if he’s able to return to the show next week.
[Zachary Neel on X]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.