Lee Corso makes prediction for final four in College Football Playoff, National Championship
Ahead of the first Saturday of the college football season, ESPN College GameDay host Lee Corso locked in his final preseason predictions for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
Corso, who enters his 38th year on ESPN College Gameday, came down to the final four of Georgia, Ohio State, Texas and Notre Dame with the Bulldogs and Longhorns advancing to the national title game. He ultimately decided that Texas will win this year’s national championship.
Corso also predicted that there will be no undefeated teams during the 2024 season, stating that there will be more balance across the board. This is a bold prediction, as the College Football Playoff winner has been undefeated in five of the last six years, including 15-0 seasons from Georgia in 2022 and Michigan in 2023. No three-loss teams will make the playoff, according to Corso.
He didn’t stop there — as Corso ended up picking Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to win the Heisman Trophy. While the longtime college football coach didn’t pick the Ducks to finish in the final four of the CFP, he expects big things from Dan Lanning’s offense in his third year leading the program.
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His co-host, Kirk Herbstreit said they’ll revisit those picks in December.
Those are some of his long-term picks for the season. For Week 1, he made the following predictions: Penn State over West Virginia, Miami over Florida and LSU over USC.
For Corso, he recently celebrated his 89th birthday this past month. Health issues kept his appearances on ESPN College GameDay to a minimum last season, so it’s a great sign that he’s on hand for Week 1 of the 2024 college football season.
Back in May, Corso was in “great spirits” ahead of another college football season, per ESPN’s Rece Davis. “Be our 29th season together this fall on (College GameDay). So thankful for the on air lessons-the unbelievable memories-but especially you pouring into my heart as a friend!”
Corso has been working on the crew for College GameDay since 1987 and over the years became one of the iconic figures in the sport for college football fans. It was in 1993 that the program began traveling around the country from location to location. Then, in 1996, he began his tradition of wearing the mascot headgear for his picks of the week.
Prior to becoming an analyst for ESPN, Corso was a coach, with stops as the head man at Louisville, Indiana, and Northern Illinois. He was also an assistant at Navy and Maryland once his playing career at Florida State came to an end.