Participants in Pat McAfee’s kicking contest on ESPN’s College GameDay this season have missed more than $5 million worth of field goal attempts.
The goal is simple: Convert a 33-yard field goal, which is the length of an extra point in the NFL, and win a big cash prize. In fall 2023, McAfee, a former college kicker at West Virginia and an All-Pro NFL punter with the Colts for eight seasons started putting his own money on the line each Saturday of the college football season to prove that kicking isn’t easy.
So far this season, just four of the 15 McAfee kicking-contest participants have been successful, with only one making the field goal on their first attempt. Along the way, there were 23 missed kicks that totaled $5.21 million in potential prize money on the line.
It should be noted that multiple participants missed consecutive kicks, in which McAfee would have been on the hook for only a single payment had they made one. For example, McAfee offered a student at Ohio State $200,000 and then $250,000, adding up to $450,000 in missed kicks. Had each participant who missed actually made their most valuable attempt, McAfee would have had to pay out $3.39 million.
But there were some success stories: After just one person won the challenge last year, earning $30,000, McAfee paid out $650,000 to students at various GameDay stops this season.
- Texas A&M: $50,000
- Cal: $100,000
- Oregon: $100,000
- Georgia: $400,000
McAfee did not hold a contest ahead of this year’s Army-Navy game, since GameDay took the weekend off. Last year, he put up cash to donate to a military foundation because service academy students aren’t allowed to accept the money.
Donations have been a large part of McAfee’s kicking contest. This season McAfee pledged to donate more than $1.3 million to various charities, scholarship funds, and hurricane relief efforts. Often, McAfee would put up a potential donation alongside a cash prize for the kicker, and still donate a portion after a miss.
Sometimes, a celebrity guest on the show would offer to add to or match McAfee’s contest offer or donation amount.
Rules, Rules, Rules
While each of the winners in 2024 was a student, being in college isn’t a requirement. According to the contest’s rules, it is open to all legal U.S. residents ages 18 and older. In Atlanta ahead of the SEC championship game, a 2017 graduate of Texas who is now a lawyer missed two field-goal attempts: the first for $400,000, and the second for $1.2 million. Rules do prohibit all current and former college athletes from competing.
Other rules include things like no boots allowed (even though a Texas student got away with his) and that contestants may not be under the influence of alcohol—something that is widespread during college football tailgates.
Winning Mentality
The first 300 people who get to the GameDay set each week can enter a raffle to be selected.
“It was crazy,” Oregon junior Kyle Kramer told Front Office Sports in an interview a few days after he won the contest.
Kramer said it was a whirlwind from the time his ticket was called shortly before 6 a.m. PT until he attempted his first kick for $80,000, with Nick Saban holding the football.
“They took me over the barricade, brought me back to a tent, and I signed some documents,” he said. “I ended up having to wait an hour until the actual kick. So, I don’t know if they did it on purpose or not, but the nerves were building up.”
After Kramer missed his first attempt, he made the second for $100,000. He was planning to pay some of his rent in advance, pay off some student loans, and buy some new clothes and golf clubs.
Kramer’s $100,000 prize was tied for the second-largest payout of the season, behind the $400,000 won during the contest at Georgia. That day, a female student won the raffle. She let a male student she had just met that day kick for her, and they split the prize.
