College GameDay in chaos as Pat McAfee and crew forced into emergency set change over safety fears

ESPN’s College GameDay crew was forced to move inside amid a lightning storm in Baton Rouge.

Pat McAfee and his colleagues were on campus at Louisiana State University, in front of a massive crowd, for Week 1 of the college football season.

The No. 11-ranked LSU Tigers face Clemson in the biggest game of the weekend, due to kick-off at 6:30pm CT.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got some weather in the area,” host Rece Davis told viewers on Saturday morning.

“LSU and the people who take care of our safety, because there’s lighting close by, we’re going to have to move inside.

“College GameDay will continue, we hope to comeback.

Turning to the audience of students behind them, Davis added: “We encourage all of our friends here, make sure you stay safe away from the lightning.”

ESPN cut to a studio show to fill time, as the crew moved to a setup inside.

GameDay aired live from what appeared to be an auditorium on the LSU campus, before returning outside soon after.

The chaotic move followed an opening segment which saw McAfee, who has recently landed a new role with Netflix, savagely booed on his GameDay return.

Pat McAfee riles LSU crowd on GameDay comeback

The former Indianapolis Colts kicker, who has been told he wields too much power at ESPN, couldn’t resist a dig over new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin.

“I would like it to be known that last year, when the Lane Kiffin conversation was happening, I was saying, ‘Lane needs to stay at Ole Miss,'”

“I was saying, ‘You’re going to LSU to win a National Championship? Your teams in the playoffs, you can win a National Championship now, bro. Why do you want to go down to Baton Rouge? That seems like a stupid idea.’

“And what followed, was complete chaos.”

McAfee, though, later won back the crowd by suggesting he has come around to the idea of Kiffin at LSU, noting that Death Valley will be a ‘problem’ in 2026.

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