Jackson, an Indiana fan, had spent hours on his feet in Bloomington, Indiana, before Pat McAfee gave him the kind of opportunity most college students only dream about. One kick. Thirty-three yards. One million dollars.
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There was just one problem. Jackson had spent years playing soccer, not American football, and the goalposts in front of him were about to become the most expensive set of uprights he had ever faced.
“You have not lied to us one bit,” McAfee told him on the October 31 Kicking is Easy contest at Bloomington during College GameDay. Then the ESPN personality made the offer. “One million-dollars kick,” he announced, prompting a roar from the Indiana crowd.
The crowd had already heard Jackson’s story. He had been awake for longer than 24 hours, while some of his friends had been standing in line for even longer. McAfee, who has made a habit of turning College GameDay fans into the stars of the morning, liked what he heard.
McAfee asked which NFL team Jackson supported. When he answered the Cincinnati Bengals, the crowd booed. McAfee seized the opportunity for his signature crowd work.
“I’ll tell you what, this is gonna be only one kick right there. Had the opportunity to be a Colt instead, you chose to be a Bengal,” McAfee remarked as Jackson lined up for the kick.
Jackson missed the kick as the ball went just a foot past the left upright. McAfee shouted, “No good.” The crowd begged for another chance, and McAfee relented, as he has in previous editions, offering a second kick with the same $1 million on the line. Jackson missed again and walked away visibly dejected.
“Jackson, it’s a heartbreaker,” McAfee said. “We can’t do three.”
With that, McAfee held on to the $1 million. He declined to put up a third attempt, and Jackson left without any of the prize money. That was a seven-figure payout for McAfee saved, and it came after the million-dollar offer had gone unclaimed last week.
The October 31 broadcast of College GameDay came from Showalter Fountain on Indiana University’s campus, ahead of the Hoosiers’ Halloween matchup with Minnesota.
Jackson did not win the money, but he left with supplies for his group’s tailgate from Home Depot.
The $1 million McAfee avoided paying is a small part of what the contest has cost. The contest began much more modestly.
Greyson Wilhelm, a student at Washington, won $30,000 in 2023. In 2024, four students made their kicks and took home a combined $650,000, and McAfee also directed money to charity that year. The biggest payouts came in 2025, bringing the total awards during the contest’s first three years to $6.25 million, according to ESPN.
This season has already outspent those three years combined. Through the first eight shows of 2026, prizes and charitable donations had reached $8.5 million.
Davis opened the previous Saturday’s segment in Salt Lake City by announcing that more than $14 million has now been handed out since the contest began.
McAfee paid for the first three seasons of the contest himself. This year, Home Depot, which has been associated with College GameDay for more than two decades, joined the arrangement and agreed to match his contributions for the season.
Home Depot helped make the million-dollar prize the standard opening offer. ESPN, though, has said McAfee still supplies most of the money.
ESPN’s executive Mike Foss, in conversation with Front Office Sports, revealed on October 14 that McAfee has put north of $12 million of his own money. However, he didn’t clarify if it was for the previous three seasons or this season, too.
In all, the kicking contest has only made GameDay more popular. And on many occasions McAfee has been generous to kickers by awarding a second attempt. In September, for instance, Texas freshman Connor Kacena-Merrell missed his first attempt before making his second kick for $1.2 million.
Kirk Herbstreit and actor Matthew McConaughey each added $100,000 to increase the prize, as Kacena-Merrell donated his half amount to a designated charity. Then came the most remarkable result of the season.
On October 17, BYU freshman Carter Smith missed his first attempt in Provo but got another chance.
Wearing a Spider-Man costume, he made the second kick and secured a $3 million total after Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith and business partner Ryan Sweeney added money to the original prize. One million dollars was designated for charity.
Jackson was not as fortunate. The segment still gave College GameDay another talking point, even though no one left Bloomington with a million dollars.