The “College GameDay” broadcast lacked a familiar face again, with Lee Corso — a mainstay on the show for more than three decades — missing his second consecutive week due to health reasons, according to host Rece Davis.
“He’s not going to be here this week,” Davis told reporters leading up to the show, according to Sports Illustrated. “He’s doing better. He’s been a little bit under the weather for the last couple of weeks.”
Corso, known for his picks and donning the heads of various football mascots when announcing them, missed the “College GameDay” broadcast from Berkeley last week for the Cal-Miami thriller, too.
“Hoping he gets back with us very soon,” Davis said on the show Saturday. “I talked to LC this week, he wants to send his regards to his very good friend The Duck and the other thing, Pat [McAfee], he’s got to be sorry and loving and seeing what this crowd’s about.”
Back in 2016, Corso said in a radio interview that Eugene was his favorite site for one of the show’s broadcast, with everything starting at 6 a.m. local time and students staying up the entire night ahead of “College GameDay.”
“They’ve got great enthusiasm and the Duck is my favorite [mascot],” Corso said that year, according to the Oregonian. “That’s my favorite place, for me personally, to see a ballgame.”
The ESPN show returned to Eugene this weekend ahead of the Oregon-Ohio State showdown — featuring the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country, respectively — Saturday night.
Oregon survived in Week 2 by eking out a narrow win against Boise State, but they’ve cruised in their three games since behind quarterback Dillon Gabriel — 11 touchdowns, three interceptions — and running back Jordan James’ five touchdowns.
The Buckeyes, though, haven’t surrendered more than 14 points in a game this year and haven’t scored fewer than 35.
Next week, “College GameDay” will head to Austin for the Texas-Georgia SEC showdown, though it’s unclear at this point if Corso, who also didn’t travel to Dublin for the Week 0 show ahead of the Notre Dame-Florida State game, will return to the broadcast.
