The fallout from Pat McAfee’s comments about Utah on Saturday’s episode of College Game Day ” continued, with the University of Utah issuing an apology to the ESPN personality.
In a statement released Monday, the school took “full responsibility” for the social media video at the center of the discussion and noted that university officials had contacted McAfee to “sincerely apologize” for the situation.
The situation began Saturday with the ESPN pregame show broadcast from Salt Lake City for the Houston-Utah game. During the final segment, in which the panelists made their choices, McAfee concluded his speech by telling the crowd in attendance, “I hope I never see you again.”
McAfee further addressed the situation on Monday’s episode of his ESPN show by saying he felt “uncomfortable” about a social media video of Utah students doing a McAfee impersonation that the university later posted on its official Instagram page (h/t Chris Vannini of The Athletic).
“I didn’t like the University of Utah,” McAfee said at the start of his show. “You know why I didn’t like it especially? Right before I go, I see the University of Utah’s Instagram page. They posted a Pat McAfee print, and some kid said, ‘Ah, he’s cheesy.’ Another kid calls me scary. If these kids had done this on their own blogs, everything would be fine. Everyone shoots me for everything anyway. I understand. If the two ladies who hosted this posted this on their own blog, I would agree. You are allowed to do what you do.
“The university is publishing this? Like I’m about to go out and do an infomercial for the place? And then I’m walking in front of thousands of people. Is this what the university is thinking? It’s an uncomfortable feeling.”
The school later deleted the video from his account. Saturday was the seventh time College Game Day broadcast from Salt Lake City before a Utes home game. It was the first time since November 2025 for a Cincinnati-Utah game.
Utah beat Houston 21-13 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night to improve to 7-0 on the season.
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