Lee Corso’s Son Admits Panic Over Dad After Recalling Favorite College GameDay Moment

As Week 1 of college football draws near, emotions are running high for more than just the return of the sport. This season also marks the farewell tour of Lee Corso, the beloved face of College GameDay. For nearly four decades, Corso’s flair, unpredictability, and iconic headgear picks have been woven into the fabric of Saturday mornings. But when you ask his son, Dan Corso, for his favorite moment? It was one that he didn’t catch live, but something that made his phone buzz for the remainder of the day. 

Flashback to 2011. It was the Houston Cougars vs. SMU. College GameDay was set up at the University of Houston. The Cougars were aiming for the perfect season, while SMU was eager to cause an upset. As the pregame show reached its iconic segment, Corso’s headgear pick, he teased the crowd by grabbing an SMU megaphone, leaning towards the underdog.

But in true Lee Corso fashion, he flipped the script at the last second. Dropping the megaphone, he exclaimed, “Ah, f—it!” live on air and grabbed the Houston Cougar mascot head, igniting the crowd. Dan, however, wasn’t watching. “I thought something happened to him live on the show, so I called my mom to find out what happened,” Dan recalled while talking to Tallahassee Democrats. “She said, ‘Your dad dropped the F-bomb.’

And Dan, being his son, was not surprised. “I responded, ‘Yeah, that seems about right,’ and went on with what I was involved in at the time,” he said. It was vintage Corso. Unpredictable, hilarious, and completely in the moment. At home, the family wasn’t shocked. And when it was brought up at the Corso house, Lee laughed it off. The moment gave Lee a great dad story and Dan a buzzing phone and a core memory.

Now, as Corso prepares to pick a headgear one last time, it’s moments like these that remind everyone why he’s irreplaceable. The F-bomb in Houston was a perfect, human moment from a man who made GameDay feel like home. For Dan and fans everywhere, it’s those unscripted memories that will outlast any game pick.

Sarkisian Salutes a Saturday Tradition

For Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, College GameDay is a thread woven into the very fabric of college football’s modern era. As the sport has evolved with NIL deals, realignment, and the transfer portal, GameDay has remained a Saturday morning staple. Speaking on the 3rd & Longhorn podcast, Sarkisian reflected on just how long GameDay has been part of his football journey and how Lee Corso helped elevate it beyond a pregame preview.

Sarkisian recalled a light-hearted moment from his BYU playing days in 1996, when Corso and the crew picked Rice to beat them. BYU went on to dismantle Rice 49–0. “We were playing Rice, and I was at BYU, this is 1996, and they picked Rice to beat us,” Sarkisian said, laughing. But it was about the reach. “The impact that they’ve had on our game and some of the great stories that they get to tell, highlighting some of the programs that maybe didn’t have the exposure,” he added.

As Corso prepares for his final season on GameDay, Sarkisian made sure to give the legend his due. “Everybody looked forward to him putting on the mascot head or whatever the little skit was going to be at the end,” Sark said. “College football is the most popular it’s ever been, and credit is due to College GameDay and most notably Coach Corso.” For a coach who’s seen the sport from nearly every angle, there’s no doubt Corso was the architect who built the hype on which college football stands today.