Pat McAfee’s College GameDay has been going exceedingly well, but not for him. This week, though, there was a twist in how he lost his money. College GameDay in Week 5 was set up at Penn State University, where the raffle winner, William, from Penn State, picked someone else to get his kick in. And that someone was Carson Albright, a women’s soccer team freshman manager, and had been playing soccer since high school. Seeing this symbiotic relationship bloom, Pat McAfee upgraded the prize money to $300,000 once he got to know that William and Carson would be splitting the prize money.

And what happened next? Carson drilled the 33-yard field goal with surgical accuracy, costing Pat $300,000. This “pick-someone-else” wrinkle has been part of this bit for quite some time now. But watching a daily soccer player who has been doing this for literally his whole life has turned this opportunity into an edge for students. It’s not a 50/50 odd gamble anymore, and Pat McAfee thought it was time that this should be addressed.

“I don’t mind ‘picking someone else’ gimmick. Now, if this kid were here, so if that kid were at GameDay. Carson, who is a professional kicker, he’s actually a member of the women’s soccer team equipment manager crew. So he does kick soccer balls literally every single day. So he is probably an incredible soccer player from high school, and the fact that William picked him. Good play, yeah, fair play. But if he wasn’t there. I don’t think that he was with him or in the area. We’re gonna add a clause. I think you have to make your decision in 30 seconds.” McAfee said on The Pat McAfee Show. McAfee has already lost $850,000 this season, and if he keeps letting this gimmick go on for the remainder of the season, the cost could easily break $2 million at this rate.

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This is actually a much-needed practical guardrail for the contest because it has been happening so frequently. This also happened in Miami in Week 4, when a student tagged in a non-UM buddy, but they missed twice at a $500,000 pot. Pat is usually a happy-go-lucky kind of person, but he still has to maintain some amount of intrigue and also save his pocket from these situations, which have an outcome practically guaranteed. After all, ESPN does not sponsor this segment; Pat gives the money from his own pocket. The new guardrail will allow people to pick someone without doing a campus-wide talent search.

This tweak is quite literally common sense for this segment. The drive is also tied to massive donations to various charitable organisations, not to mention the life-changing money that a student can get. McAfee said, “Imagine if he won, goes to the women’s soccer team or the men’s soccer team. You got anybody around here, yeah, we got 100 thousand dollars, opportunity, and then find this guy and bring him back. But going forward, can’t have it happen again.” And this is the best course of action to maintain a healthy mix of intrigue, luck, curiosity, and skill in the contest. And save McAfee some money.

The sly add-on behind GameDay’s biggest kick

Pat McAfee has been walking with a hole in his pocket all season long, but few people can share his pain better than Kirk Herbstreit.  Herbstreit’s sideline role in McAfee’s College GameDay kicking contest is extremely simple. He just has to steady the ball and pray that the fan doesn’t kick his hand off. But what he does not expect throughout that sequence is that at any moment, on Pat McAfee’s whim, his pockets could be laid bare as well.

“I don’t even know he’s doing this. He’s like, ‘You know what? And, Kirk’s going to throw in $200,000 over here too,’” Herbstreit told Jimmy Traina. Traina was shocked by this confession and asked, “That is not discussed beforehand?” The answer? “No! Never! He just does that.” The kicker (pun intended) is also that Herbstreit actually gave up $100,000 of his own money last season. Everything about this conversation fits the DNA of the sequence. The kicking contest is basically a carnival game with huge upsides and no downsides. It also explains why the fans love the contest and especially Pat McAfee so much. McAfee does not hesitate to make the moment more fun, even if it comes at a (huge) cost of Herbstreit’s empty wallet.