Pat McAfee had already given Ole Miss fans plenty to celebrate before the LSU game even started. James Whitehead, an Ole Miss freshman, had just walked onto the College GameDay stage and made a 33-yard field goal barefoot. He had never kicked a football before. Whithead had played soccer, called a kicker back home for advice, and then somehow put the ball straight through the uprights.

The prize was supposed to be $1 million. Then McAfee appeared to turn the celebration into something much more expensive. A clip circulating on X showed McAfee writing on the giant cardboard winner’s check after Whitehead’s kick.

Viewers noticed that the amount appeared to read $100 million, rather than the actual $1 million prize. Whitehead won $1 million for making the kick. Multiple reports confirmed the prize amount, and College GameDay itself posted the winning moment as a “$1 MILLION KICK.” But that did not stop viewers from having fun with what they saw on the check.

The mistake stood out because the whole segment is built around big money. McAfee’s kicking contest has paid out $2 million in prizes during the 2026 season. So when a few extra zeros showed up, the larger figure did not look completely out of place.

Credit: ESPN

Whitehead had already pulled off something worth talking about. He did not need the inflated number to make it more impressive. Before the kick, McAfee asked him whether he had ever kicked a football. Whitehead said no. He explained that he had played soccer growing up but stopped after suffering a concussion. That was basically the extent of his preparation

McAfee even joked that Whitehead should close his eyes, swing as hard as possible, and let his “mustache” carry him to success. Kirk Herbstreit then asked whether Whitehead had ever kicked a ball barefoot.

He had. Still, a football was new territory. Whitehead took off his shoes anyway. The result was almost too clean. His 33-yard attempt went through the uprights on the first try, giving him the $1 million prize. He had plenty of room on the kick, while McAfee called it the “best kick” he had seen in the contest. That first attempt mattered.

Earlier in the 2026 season, LSU’s Bruce Morello missed his initial opportunity during the Baton Rouge broadcast. The contest later produced another dramatic result at Texas when Connor Kacena-Merrell missed his first kick but got another chance and eventually won $1.2 million. Whitehead did not need any of that.

One of the more obvious incidents happened in 2025, when McAfee kept showing up shirtless during broadcasts. It happened at stops such as Penn State and Oregon and quickly became a joke among viewers. People questioned why he was on TV without a shirt so early on a Saturday. McAfee did not try to shut it down. He played along and even turned the criticism into another bit with comedian Bert Kreischer.

At West Virginia in 2025, McAfee used his connection to the school to needle Pitt fans during the broadcast. He began playing with the crowd and worked his way toward the infamous West Virginia version of “Sweet Caroline.” He stopped short of completing the explicit chant himself, then let the crowd take over. His crowd work has become almost a weekly routine. Of course, people are used to seeing McAfee’s quirks. But the $100 million sum was hard to ignore.

“I think @PatMcAfeeShowjust gave him one hundred million by accident 😂,” a user wrote on X, sharing the photo of the big check. Another user simply speculated if all of it was deliberate on the part of McAfee. “Did Pat McAfee just change the check to read $100 million?! 😭”

“He was probably smoking again. It happens,” a user sarcastically remarked on X. It’s probably because McAfee was spotted smoking on his show recently, which he acknowledged was a mistake. Another user, though, was quite straightforward and challenged McAfee to follow through with the sum. “Honor that check.”

Unlike previous years, McAfee doesn’t pay the contest’s awards from his pocket alone. Home Depot now contributes a significant share, starting in 2026. And that has cut McAfee’s share significantly, who has given $8.2 million till now since the contest’s inception. Maybe it was a prank for his sponsors? Nevertheless, there was no harm done.