Lee Corso's National Championship Pick Has Aged Terribly

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Lee Corso's National Championship Pick Has Aged Terribly

Back on Aug. 30, Lee Corso retired from ESPN's "College GameDay." Before saying goodbye to the show that he made famous, he unveiled his prediction for this season's national championship.

Corso showed off his football knowledge in Week 1 by predicting Florida State to upset Alabama in Tallahassee. He also picked Ohio State to defeat Texas in what many fans thought would be a College Football Playoff preview. Overall, he finished his "College GameDay" career with a 287-114 record for headgear picks.

Unfortunately for Corso, he completely botched his prediction for the national championship game.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 1: Lee Corso of ESPN College GameDay speaks on set before the Rose Bowl between Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2025 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)Ric Tapia/Getty Images

Corso had Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame and Penn State reaching the Playoff. As of this moment, only Notre Dame has a legitimate chance of winning it all.

As for the national title game, Corso had LSU knocking off Penn State. At the time, it seemed like a savvy pick from the beloved analyst.

Now that we're entering Week 10, it's safe to say Corso's prediction won't come to fruition.

LSU & Penn State entering new eras.

Things quickly went downhill for LSU this October. After dropping a tough game on the road to Vanderbilt, the program suffered a blowout loss to Texas A&M. That inpsired the athletic department to fire Brian Kelly.

Penn State, meanwhile, fired James Franklin after dropping three consecutive games to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. He claims he received the bad news right before practice.

“We were a Sunday practice team and we have a team meeting at 1:45. About 1:30 the AD walked in and said, ‘We’re going to make a change. I’m sorry.’ I was in shock, obviously, really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know so they wouldn’t find out on the internet,” Franklin said, via On3. “And then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving, it really, that was it. It was that quick, obviously, pretty much in shock as that was going on.”

LSU and Penn State will be on the hunt for new head coaches this offseason.

This story was originally reported by The Spun on Nov 1, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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