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Indiana Fan Goes Down With Brutal Injury Before 'College GameDay' Kicking Segment
College GameDay descended on Bloomington, Ind., on Saturday and Hoosiers fans showed up in droves. The football team also continued a generational season with a two-touchdown victory over Washington, moving to 8-0 on the year and establishing themselves as legitimate College Football Playoff contenders. Vibes simply could not be higher.
But, not for everyone. Jake, the Indiana fan first selected to do Pat McAfee's Kicking Contest on GameDay, straight-up did not have a good time after suffering an injury preparing to boot a ball on national television. One of McAfee's producers helpfully shared footage of the gnarly situation.
BREAKING: Gameday kicker #1 has blown his knee out warming up.
— Football (@BostonConnr) October 26, 2024
A replacement kicker will be needed pic.twitter.com/fsU1GvXz2w
That right there is close to being the worst-case scenario. One moment you're dreaming of what to do with $300,000 and the next you're realizing every conversation from this point forward will be about the non-contact injury that was well-documented on an iconic televisions show.
With Jake out, McAfee had to find someone else brave enough to try to split the uprights and, spoiler alert, he did not.
The first kicker Jake tore his ACL warming up..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 26, 2024
If you hit this kick both you and Jake will win $100,000 💰💰
NO GOOD #CollegeGameDay https://t.co/Q3uEUN6UGw pic.twitter.com/osfuh2ltPW
FOR $150,000 FOR YOU AND JAKE 💰💰
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 26, 2024
THIS KID STINKS #CollegeGameDay https://t.co/rxcynCORVA pic.twitter.com/tzps5tMwwe
Doctors would probably tell you otherwise but it seems like randomly kicking a 33-yard field goal out of the blue is something that you should just try once instead of trying to warm up. It's just one of those things that's either going to happen or not based on a swing of a leg and more repetitions only invite potential disaster.
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Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.