CJ Carr had 30 yards between him and a $250,000 donation. Pat McAfee had given the Notre Dame quarterback one shot: hit the crossbar, and McAfee would send the money to a charity of Carr’s choice. Carr set up, took his aim and got enough on the ball to catch the upright cleanly. The challenge was over in seconds, and McAfee had just handed Carr a $250,000 charity win.
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That was hardly the kind of Notre Dame interaction McAfee has become known for. Earlier in the same College GameDay broadcast, he had pulled up clips of Carr and focused on a different part of his game, pointing out how much more comfortable the sophomore had become reading coverages. For much of the day, McAfee was talking about what Carr had learned and how his game had changed. Then, after the Iowa City broadcast, a message landed in his Instagram inbox that had nothing to do with football analysis.
“I’m going to break your fu—g jaw and make you bite the curb. Talk more s–t about Notre Dame,” part of the message read. The other part referred to a similar threat for the person who “rides all Boston sports on the show.”
The Notre Dame reference in the threatening message has a longer history. McAfee has never hidden that he enjoys poking at the Fighting Irish. In August 2024, he picked Texas A&M over Notre Dame before the season opener in College Station.
Notre Dame won 23-13, and McAfee later admitted on his show that he had actually planned to pick the Irish before the atmosphere around the game changed his mind.
He eventually became more bullish on Notre Dame. In the 2024 Orange Bowl, McAfee again leaned into the joke, telling Irish fans that since they had enjoyed watching him pick against them, he would keep doing it. He picked Penn State over Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman’s team won that game, too.
So there is plenty for an angry fan to disagree with. None of it legitimizes a threat. And this isn’t the first time McAfee has dealt with that line being crossed.
His first experience came long before ESPN. In the 2007 Backyard Brawl, Pat McAfee missed two field goals as West Virginia lost 13-9 to Pittsburgh. The loss ended the Mountaineers’ hopes of playing for a national title. The reaction was ugly.
McAfee received death threats, his car was vandalized, and people close to him were harassed. He later said the abuse became so intense that he considered suicide.
Sadly, that experience didn’t stay in the past once McAfee moved into broadcasting. In January 2024, McAfee revealed that he had received death threats.
The reason was simple enough. Every Saturday, he walked onto another college campus and picked against thousands of fans who wanted to hear him cheer on their team. Then came March 2025.
After McAfee criticized Canadian fans for booing the U.S. national anthem during WWE’s Elimination Chamber in Toronto, he shared messages threatening him and his young daughter.
Just days before the Iowa broadcast, another fake College GameDay post caused trouble. The post falsely claimed McAfee had made a political pick, picking President Donald Trump, that he never made.
Pat McAfee said the post was followed by violent messages. So the latest message was not just another angry reaction to a football pick. McAfee had already been dealing with threats tied to false posts and his weekly predictions. And McAfee continues to give people plenty to react to.
Earlier in the broadcast, the show’s $1 million kicking contest produced another memorable moment when Iowa freshman Finley Banfig missed her seven-figure field goal attempt.
Dallas Clark stepped in for a consolation throw, producing $150,000, which McAfee matched for a $300,000 total. That is McAfee’s GameDay identity.
McAfee can take the boos and the Notre Dame jokes. But threatening messages are a different story, turning the latest backlash into something far more serious than another round of criticism.