(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect) Jeff Hauser Thu, October 29, 2026 at 4:45 AM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Utah Utes got to experience ESPN College GameDay last weekend before the top 25 matchup with Houston. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch at first. However, Pat McAfee wasn't happy in the slightest. You can say the feeling was mutual with Utes fans.
McAfee not only picked Houston over Utah, but also said he'd do so "10 times out of 10." This was the start of a feud between McAfee and the fans. When he signed off the air he said, "I'll never see you again, hopefully." Utah ended up beating Houston 21-13 on Saturday .
After returning home from Salt Lake City, McAfee reflected on the moment, but nothing changed. In fact, it was a social media post shared by the University of Utah that broke the camel's back. Students were dissing him.
McAfee said he would have been fine with the post, but it made him feel uncomfortable.
"The University puts that out as I'm about to go out and do an infomercial for the place? And I'm walking in front of thousands of these people. This is how the university feels about it? It's an uncomfortable feeling," McAfee said. "I'm getting a lot of shrapnel from a lot of places. The university is putting this out? That's something I had never experienced, really in my entire life. So it kind of set me off."
This was the second straight week in the Beehive State for McAfee and the crew. They were in Provo for the highly anticipated matchup between BYU and Notre Dame during the prior week. McAfee gave away $3 million during his Kicking is Easy contest when at BYU. Last week, however, a University of Utah student asked why she "only" got $1 million.
"Alright, I hate this place," McAfee said. "I hate this place."
What's McAfee's beef about Utah? We understand the story and his feelings about it all. But he's not coming down about this one.
"But the university gaslighting ... right before I got out there to talk about your school? Especially with what happened 40 miles south in Salt Lake City a little over a year ago? I did not enjoy that. I was very, very uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable."
McAfee doubled down on his desire never to return to Utah. "I'll hopefully never go to that place," McAfee said. "I think I'll have COVID whenever 'GameDay' goes back. All of this talk and the University of Utah finally chimed in about the situation.
On Monday evening, Utah Athletics released a statement in the wake of McAfee's comments.
"Our goal during the visit was to create lighthearted engagement regarding Pat being back on campus, but we missed that mark. University staff are responsible for reviewing and posting content on official social media accounts, and we take full accountability for that decision," the statement read.
"University officials have reached out to Pat to express appreciation and regret. We sincerely apologize for creating any perception that Pat was unsafe or unwelcome on our campus. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pat and the entire GameDay crew are always welcome at the University of Utah, and we deeply appreciate the opportunity ESPN provides to showcase our university and the community."
ESPN's College GameDay is heading to Indiana for Week 9 of the 2026 college football season.
Source: Sports
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