ESPN, College GameDay Betting 'Expert' Stanford Steve Is Terrible At Picking Games

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Prior to this season, ESPN's College GameDay featured Chris "The Bear" Fallica as its betting expert. Fallica rose through the ranks of ESPN's research department and eventually gained on-air notoriety. He left to join FOX's college football coverage and ESPN replaced him with "Stanford Steve."

Unlike Fallica, who spent 25 years researching college football for ESPN, Stanford Steve Coughlin's main qualification as an "expert" is that his best friend is Scott Van Pelt. Coughlin worked on Van Pelt's radio show and when SVP took over the late-night SportsCenter, he brought Coughlin with him.

The pair do a popular segment called "bad beats," as Steve continues to brand himself as a betting expert. He hosts a gambling podcast at ESPN, too.

New ESPN

New ESPN "College GameDay" betting "expert," Stanford Steve Coughlin, has a horrible 37% winning percentage this season. (Photo Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports)

Well, his first season on College GameDay isn't going very well.

On last week's show, the cast made fun of Steve's horrible betting record after he went 1-3 to move his season record to a putrid 8-15-1.

His picks last week went 2-2, putting him at 10-17-1 for the season. This week ... didn't go very well, either.

Stanford Steve gave out BYU +5 over TCU. TCU destroyed BYU by 33 points. He also gave UAB (+9) over UTSA. UTSA won by three touchdowns. Steve did manage to correctly give out Iowa State (+5) over Cincinnati. The Washington-Oregon game pushed, giving Steve another losing week at 1-2-1.

Through seven weeks, Steve is now 11-19-2 (37% winning percentage). If you bet $100 on each of his recommendations (assuming each bet was -110), you'd have lost $910. Yikes. That's $130 per week lost. That averages out to more than $500/month, which is more than the average car payment.

Now, on the other hand, if you recognized that Stanford Steve stinks at picking games and you just bet the exact opposite of everything he said, you'd be up $610.

But, hey, look at that cool refrigerator! Steve drinks beers, he's a regular dude! And he's friends with Scott Van Pelt! What a cool guy!

Let's pay him to pick games incorrectly! Hooray!

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.