A University of Tennessee student has fumed that he was ‘screwed’ out of the chance to kick a field goal and win $600k on Pat McAfee’s College GameDay.
Every week one lucky fan is plucked from the GameDay crowd to attempt the lucrative kicking challenge on ESPN’s college football show, which heads to campuses across America on a weekly basis.
Last week McAfee and his crew headed to Tennessee ahead of the Volunteers’ showdown with the Georgia Bulldogs, with the student chosen to take the kick ultimately missing out on both the field goal and the hefty sum on offer.
However, another Tennessee student claims he was cruelly denied the opportunity to win it.
Volts fan Jake Lund has alleged that he was initially picked for the kicking challenge, only for the chance to be taken away from him as he did not have ID on him.
Kicking-challenge contestants are chosen by a raffle, with each fan given a ticket when they enter the GameDay barricade early Saturday morning.
In a viral TikTok video, Lund said that a number was initially pulled that wasn’t his, but another one had to be drawn when that student turned out to be under 18.
A Tennessee student claims he was ‘screwed’ out of the chance to kick a field goal and win $600k on College GameDay
Pat McAfee hosts the weekly college football show, which heads to campuses across the US
‘I started screaming. Like, I’m jumping up and down so excited,’ he recalled. ‘Like, I can’t express how excited I felt.’
Yet that excitement quickly turned to despair when one GameDay organizer asked him to verify his ticket and show ID, which he did not bring with him.
Despite insisting he could show identification using a photo on his phone or the date of birth on his Apple Wallet and the school website, Lund was told he was ineligible for the challenge and the opportunity was brutally handed elsewhere.
‘He looks me dead in my eyes and says, “Nope. Need a new guy,”‘ he 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,’ Lund added. ‘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 physical ID or wallet as he didn’t ant to risk losing his valuables after camping out all night to get his spot.
After visiting the College GameDay website to read the full contest rules, he claims the document does not state that contestants need a physical ID.
‘I just think that the way ESPN and GameDay handled this was awful,’ Lund concluded.
