Tennessee student claims he was 'screwed' by Pat McAfee kicking contest on College GameDay

A University of Tennessee student thought he would be the kicker for Pat McAfee’s College GameDay kicking contest. However, a case of forgotten ID would see him get “screwed” by the ESPN staff on-hand.

The student, Jake Lund, explained the situation during a lengthy TikTok video. Lund revealed that the GameDay organizers originally picked another name from the raffle, but was not 18 years of age. They redrew, and Lund’s number was called.

Lund explained his excitement to meet McAfee and the gang. However, officials asked for Lund to provide valid identification. The only issue was that Lund didn’t have it on him. He was camping out on-site ahead of the Week 3 matchup and left it at home due to potential theft concerns.

“He looks me dead in my eyes and says, ‘Nope. Need a new guy,’” Lund said in the video. “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.”

The GameDay staff had just denied one person due to being underage. Lund, a college-aged student, could not provide his, so they moved on to the next name. Lund offered other ways to verify his identity and age, such as his Apple Wallet or the school’s website. These requests were denied. Lund said that the way ESPN and GameDay handled this was “awful.”

“If you’re ever going to GameDay in the future,” Lund continued. “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.”

Instead, College GameDay went with another student — a nuclear engineer major. He was awarded two kicks and both were missed. The first one hooked left, while the other was on-line but finished short. The winning purse would have totaled $600,000.

Week 3’s kicking contest turned into an unwanted preview of the eventual finish to the Tennessee vs. Georgia matchup last Saturday. Tennessee had a chance to win the game in regulation but missed their field goal attempt. The Bulldogs would end up defeating the Volunteers in overtime.

Tennessee is taking on UAB at home during Week 4. However, they’re back to SEC action during Week 5 on the road against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.