This article was written by Mark J. Burns and published on Sport & State, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.* * * * *
Pat McAfee has gone to war with ESPN executives. He’s publicly taken shots at College GameDay producers and traded online barbs with other media types.
When college students call him “corny” or tell the former Indianapolis Colts punter to, gasp, keep his ever-loving t-shirt on, and it leads to a temper tantrum, well, that’s right on brand for the ESPN personality.
“Did not enjoy University of Utah,” said McAfee during his live show on Monday after spending the weekend in Salt Lake City, adding that he’s been “getting shrapnel from a lot of places,” while he also invoked the Charlie Kirk assassination at Utah Valley University from 2025.
That’s quite the mental leap to go from college students’ playful remarks on an official University of Utah social media account ahead of ESPN’s College GameDay show to then referencing a politically motivated killing of a right-wing conservative.
McAfee continued, “I’ve never been more uncomfortable, honestly, in my life walking in front of a group of people after watching their university put out a post basically dogging me moments before. … I’ll hopefully never go to that place. I think I’ll have COVID or something whenever GameDay goes back, if I’m still a part of GameDay.”
🚨 Pat McAfee GOES OFF on the University of Utah 😳
He says he’s never felt so uncomfortable, even bringing up what happened at UVU last year.
“I did not enjoy the University of Utah.”
HOLY SMOKES 💀 https://t.co/YCXQPM3vEH
— Bill (@Billgetzfroggy) October 26, 2026
Below is the damning silly video in question, which has since been removed from Utah’s official Instagram account. Of course, Utah naturally bent the knee and offered its apologies to McAfee and ESPN in a 154-word statement.
BTW, this is the video the University of Utah put out that Pat took offense to.
Holy Charmin soft… https://t.co/Rt9gVdrKD1
— College Sports Only (@CSOonX) October 26, 2026
I wish this was satire or a shtick from McAfee, who actually praised the Utes during another on-campus appearance in 2023.
“All the demos that we’ve read from our Internet reports about our fans, they have not said Utah is one of our biggest states, but I’ll tell you what, I love you people.” he declared.
Yes, there can be real safety concerns for McAfee and the entire GameDay crew, now and in the future, and any type of threat or issue should be investigated and taken seriously — that’s a given in today’s world.
With that said, we’ve all come to expect the outlandish and ludicrous with one of ESPN’s most marketed front-and-center media personalities.
A story in 2 parts: https://t.co/dPPArOne8T
— D-Tier Ute Stan 🇺🇸 (@MrFrank1212) October 26, 2026
You know what’s also NOT up for debate?
The ridiculous nature of McAfee’s obsession with nitpicking every online critique and barb sent his direction.
Or even responding in the comments section for the most trivial of situations.
Prediction: A Pat McAfee song will replace ‘Comin’ to Your City’ on ‘College GameDay’ https://t.co/jN4YMppchz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2026
I can’t imagine the mental toll it takes to stockpile all of those complaints, file them away, and when appropriate, launch into an incessant tirade. Surely, there’s an army of chronically online McAfee staffers who monitor, track, and report back to The Boss, right?
Should we be surprised, though, about any of this behavior?
Hardly.
This is the same thin-skinned media personality who publicly accused a former ESPN executive of sabotaging his daily live show, called fellow sports media reporter Andrew Marchand a “rat,” and had a knee-jerk-reaction beef with Ohio State coach Ryan Day.
Raise your hand if you’ve been blocked online by Pat McAfee in the past 24 hours.
The Pat McAfee Show Is Blocking Accounts Amid Growing Criticism https://t.co/5BGxBP9pES
— The Spun (@TheSpun) October 27, 2026
We’ve seen his true colors and Diva-like behavior for nearly a decade at this point, after he hard-launched his sports media career with Barstool Sports in 2017.
For a media personality who cut his teeth at The Dave Portnoy School of Hard Knocks, where the perpetual rabble-rouser has been known to make a 20-year-old employee cry on live radio, regularly call employees fat, and exhibit a call-it-like-he-sees-it demeanor, those classroom lessons clearly didn’t get passed down, huh?
Maybe McAfee fell asleep, or he just refused to accept reality of life on the Internet streets from early in his career.
“I began being disrespected by the business people in the building,” McAfee wrote on X as he announced his departure from Barstool in 2018 after, in part, alleged differences in terms of how the company’s salespeople treated him. “I’ve decided I don’t want to make money for those folks anymore.”
My time at @barstoolsports will be one I reflect upon fondly. Sometimes adult stuff gets in the way. I’m officially a free agent. https://t.co/ON5KwnFzjc
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 31, 2018
Perhaps that’s what it all ultimately boils down to — a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T — and McAfee seemingly not getting a rightful amount of it.
This Saturday, the West Virginia alumnus and GameDay are headed to the friendly confines of Bloomington, Ind., McAfee’s home state.
Surely, there won’t be any issues, but I’ll still be tuning in, pen in hand, as McAfee surely will take the next perceived slight personally.
Oh, wait — The Salt Lake Tribune just entered the chat.
Meanwhile, in The Salt Lake Tribune: https://t.co/vYvbnj12r1
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 27, 2026
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