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How did Lee Corso's headgear pick tradition on 'College GameDay' begin?
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- How did Lee Corso's headgear pick tradition on 'College GameDay' begin?
When the clock hits 11:58 a.m. ET every Saturday morning in the fall, the average college football fan might see that as a sign that the first game of the day is just minutes away.
But for college football diehards, it means a whole lot more.
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It means Lee Corso is going to perform one of college football's greatest traditions on the set of "College GameDay," when the legendary coach-turned-analyst gets ready to make his pick of the week by donning the headgear of his winning team — alongside his signature hand wave.
It's so legendary that there are fans each week who tune into "College GameDay" just for the final minutes of the show to see who Corso will pick that given day. To use the words of ESPN "College GameDay" host Rece Davis , Corso's headgear pick has become the moment for some college football fans to officially kick off their college football Saturday.
On Saturday, though, after 430 selections and 69 different teams picked, Corso will don a headgear — either Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye or Texas' Hook 'Em — for the final time of his legendary career on "College GameDay." It is, fittingly, a matchup featuring the top two teams in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
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But before that historic pick happens, here's what you need to know of Corso's first headgear pick in 1996, when Corso first began building one of the most popular segments of "College GameDay" over the last three decades.
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When did Lee Corso make his first headgear pick on 'College GameDay'?
Corso made his first headgear pick on "College GameDay" on Oct. 5, 1996, when he correctly picked Ohio State to beat Penn State in a top-five Big Ten matchup. The Buckeyes beat Penn State 38-7 in Ohio Stadium.
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How did Lee Corso's headgear picks start?
Corso's headgear began thanks to his relationship with fellow "GameDay" analyst and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit and his now wife, Alison, herself a former Buckeyes cheerleader.
With their Ohio State ties, Corso had an idea ahead heading into the Oct. 5, 1996 matchup to add something to the show.
"He thought I might have some kind of in to get Brutus' headgear," Herbstreit said in an 2023 "College GameDay" feature ahead of Corso's 400th career headgear pick. "... I'm telling you it took three or four different back-and-forths until finally they green-lighted Brutus."
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So thanks to the Herbstreits, Corso put on Brutus' headgear for the very first time on that fateful October Saturday in 1996. The headgear pick segment was created.
"You could just tell at that point that this was going to have to be a staple," said former "College GameDay" host and top ESPN college football play-by-play broadcaster Chris Fowler said in 2021 .
But what makes the segment entertaining and memorable isn't Corso just picking which headgear to put on each week. There is also a "show within the show." Just look at him dressing up as the Notre Dame Leprechaun, brawling with Katy Perry ahead of Alabama-Ole Miss in 2014, calling Georgia's live bulldog mascot, Uga, ugly — or when of myriad examples of him going for a fake out, only to chuck one headgear in favor of the other.
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"I could not have dreamt that it would have become where we are today, where fans every week, that's what they wait for," Herbstreit said in that 2023 piece .
Added ESPN "College GameDay" host Rece Davis: "That is the moment that the day of football can start."
How many headgear picks has Lee Corso made?
As noted by ESPN, Corso has made 430 mascot headgear picks all-time. He holds a record of 286-144, or a 66.5% all-time winning percentage.
He has one perfect season on his resume, which came in 1999 when he a perfect 11-0 on his headgear picks, which is his most wins without a loss in a single season since he began the tradition on the show per ESPN.
Lee Corso's most picked headgear selections
Here's a breakdown of the top five most picked headgears by Corso over the years, per ESPN:
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Ohio State: 45
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Alabama: 38
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LSU: 25
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Florida: 22
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Oregon: 21
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How did Lee Corso's headgear picks begin on 'College GameDay'?
