Saturday’s Week 14 edition of College GameDay featured the weekly kicking contest hosted by Pat McAfee, where two very different level of contestants took part in a chance at a significant amount of prize money, one of which coming from the popular YouTube group Dude Perfect.
For those unaware of Dude Perfect, it is a group, all of which graduated from Texas A&M, the site of GameDay in Week 14, with a longstanding YouTube channel dedicated to trick shots. Whether it be throwing or kicking several different kinds of balls, the group has a ton of experience in sports-adjacent content.
Tyler Toney of Dude Perfect wasn’t the main participant in McAfee’s kicking challenge. That was an Air Force student by the name of Payne, who won the raffle to take part in the contest.
However, Toney did come on to kick before Payne in an effort to raise his potential earnings by $100,000. McAfee stated ahead of Toney’s kick that if he made the kick, he would raise Payne’s winnings to $250,000 instead of the standard $150,000. Toney put $100,000 of his own money on the line if he missed the kick. So either way, Payne would be kicking for $250,000.
Toney would save his own money, nailing the field goal attempt to get the Texas A&M crowd excited.
“Holy hell, it’s good,” screamed McAfee as the Dude Perfect members and holder Kirk Herbstreit celebrated in excitement.
The entire purpose of the kicking challenge of McAfee’s is to first and foremost give back to charity. ESPN regularly matches the proceeds given away to those who make the kicks and gives whatever the amount is to a number of charities.
The other purpose, however, is to enforce that kicking isn’t quite as easy as it may look on TV… Unfortunately, Payne would realize this all too well, with his kick for $250,000 in earnings and $250,000 for charity shooting left into the crowd of spectators.
“Snapped the kick, he snapped the kick,” said McAfee. “We’ll still donate $250,000… He almost killed a guy.”
“Almost took his head off,” added Kirk Herbstreit.
Payne unfortunately went home both empty-handed and likely embarrassed after his kick came nowhere close to going through the uprights. But at least money still went to a good cause with ESPN’s donation to both Texas A&M charities and the Hurricane Helene relief fund.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.