The Final Headgear: Celebrating Lee Corso’s Legendary College GameDay Era, Top-5 Funniest Moments
The GameDay icon closes his run the same way it began: with Brutus and the Buckeyes. What were his funniest moments?
COLUMBUS, OH - It was in this town that Lee Corso took the headgear and ran, creating hundreds of memorable moments that college football fans have cherished since his first prop usage in 1996 at Ohio State.
It's only fitting that he will end his run as the most entertaining character in all college football in the place where it all took off.
On Saturday morning, in front of a massive crowd in front of the famous ‘Horseshoe,' Lee Corso will take the stage one final time. If we're honest, this was the perfect way for him to hang up the headgear, with a crowd just waiting for him to throw the ‘Brutus’ gear on just one more time.
But what could be the ultimate swerve: Corso should go full ‘heel’ and go with the Longhorns on Saturday morning. As professional wrestlers do, they go out on their backs, giving the rub to the next person coming along. I'm just throwing it out.
While I can only hope this will happen, we all know which way Corso is going to lean on Saturday.
In honor of his final appearance, here are my top-5 favorite moments of the Lee Corso era on College Gameday. Let me know what your favorite moments are, by emailing me at Trey.Wallace@OutKick.com
No. 5: Lee Corso Drops The F-Bomb On National Television
Ahh, who could forget when Lee Corso got caught up at the moment during a broadcast that was taking place on the Houston campus, as the Cougars prepared to take on SMU? While he was prepping to make his pick, with many fans thinking he would go the Mustangs route, Corso flipped the script while using some colorful language in the process.
The reaction from Kirk Herbstreit was priceless.
No.4: Did Corso Just Call That Kid A Midget?
It was an early morning for the College Gameday crew, as they were broadcasting from the Oregon campus, ahead of a showdown with Stanford.
As the crew was discussing the Harvard versus Yale game, there was a child that took the stage as a guest picker. Once he picked Yale to defeat Harvard, this presented one of the funniest moments, as Chris Fowler asked out-loud what he had just heard Lee Corso say to the youngster.
"Not so fast midget!," Corso said. And yes, it's still funny to this day.
No.3: Is That A Leprechaun? Nope, Just Lee Corso
We don't have to go back very far with this moment. Known for dressing up in some of the wildest costumes, Lee Corso decided to take his perceived Irish heritage to the next level.
The College Gameday crew was in College Station for the Notre Dame versus Texas A&M showdown in 2024. It was during their last segment that Corso made it abundantly clear that he was rolling with the Fighting Irish as he came off the bus in full leprechaun attire, to the delight of Notre Dame fans in the crowd.
No. 2: Lee Corso Goes After Uga, While Predicting Georgia vs. Alabama
You know things are going off the rails when Lee Corso is attacking the appearance of the beloved college football mascot, Uga.
It was 2008 in Athens, Georgia, and College Gameday was in town for the Bulldogs' matchup against Alabama, which had the full attention of the football world. After calling the dog ugly, he donned the Alabama gear, which sent the crowd into a hostile frenzy.
Fast-forward many years later, Corso was reliving some of his prior-year picks on the way to making his 400th selection. While shooting the video, a bulldog that ESPN was using for the shoot decided to get revenge for the comments made to his siblings on that day in 2008.
"He Sh-t Right On The Foot," Corso said during the commercial. This ended up giving us two special moments, from that one pregame show.
No. 1: The Original Head Gear Pick At Ohio State Will Always Be The Best
His run is going to end where it started, at Ohio State. Though we all knew about the entertaining Lee Corso, the decision to put on the ‘Brutus’ headgear came after a last-minute scramble to actually pull it off.
At first, Ohio State was against the idea of a media personality putting on the iconic mascot head, given that it was taboo back in the day for something like this. But, after a few negotiations, and a lot of pleading from his co-worker Kirk Herbstreit, who pulled a few strings, ESPN was finally allowed to snag the headgear.
It was in 1996, as Penn State prepared to play Ohio State right here in Columbus, where Lee Corso started the tradition that continued all the way until 2025.
Ole Brutus will always hold a special place in the heart of Lee Corso, just as the former coach does with all college football.
A legend. A pioneer of the game. And the main reason why we have all continued to tune in since he first took the stage on the show.
While he will ride off into the sunset, we will forever be grateful for the memories made while watching Lee Corso every Saturday as our lead-in to college football games.
Thanks for the memories, Coach.