Last week, ESPN’s College GameDay traveled to Knoxville for Saturday’s showdown between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers, which meant that one lucky fan in attendance would have a chance to kick a field goal to earn a hefty sum of cash courtesy of Pat McAfee. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned for one Tennessee student who was selected to attempt the kick.
Every week, one lucky fan is pulled from the crowd to attempt a field goal in front of the massive GameDay crowd. If the kick is good, the fan is awarded a massive check, courtesy of Pat McAfee himself. The contestant is chosen by a raffle, with each fan given a ticket when they enter the College GameDay barricade early Saturday morning.
Last week, a University of Tennessee student by the name of Jake Lund was lucky enough to hear his number called. But in a lengthy video posted to TikTok this week, he explained how his excitement was dashed in an instant as he lost the opportunity and was replaced by someone else.
Lund explained that initially, the College GameDay organizers pulled a number that was not his, but they had to pull another number after the original contestant was not yet 18 years old. The second number turned out to be Lund’s.
“I started screaming. Like, I’m jumping up and down so excited,” Lund said. “Like, I can’t express how excited I felt.”
Then, Lund explains, things went downhill when a College GameDay organizer approached him to verify his ticket and asked to see his ID. But there was one big problem: Lund didn’t have his ID on him.
Lund tried to explain that he had a photo of his ID on his phone and had other ways to verify his identity and date of birth through his Apple Wallet and the school website, but the GameDay organizer wasn’t having it.
“He looks me dead in my eyes and says, ‘Nope. Need a new guy,'” Lund said. “It was at this moment that my heart sank. I literally blacked out. I had no idea what just happened. I was on such a high, and then I got told ‘no’ out of nowhere.”
“Everyone was around me telling me I got screwed,” he said. “My dreams had gotten crushed. It was my dream – meeting Pat McAfee, meeting Kirk Herbstreit, meeting all of those guys – and I was just heartbroken.”
Lund explained that he didn’t bring his wallet or his physical ID because he camped out all night to get his spot and didn’t want to risk losing his valuables or having them stolen, and he was frustrated that the GameDay organizers wouldn’t take any additional time to verify his age and identity in any other way. He also went to the College GameDay website to read the full contest rules and says that the document says nothing about requiring a physical ID.
“I just think that the way ESPN and GameDay handled this was awful,” Lund said.
Lund concluded with a warning for anyone else who finds themself in a similar position.
“If you’re ever going to GameDay in the future, let me be the first to tell you that if you’re camping out and you plan on giving yourself a shot at kicking that kick, for whatever reason, make sure you carry your physical ID with you,” Lund said.
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