Week 1 is here. The Longhorns are in Columbus. Texas football is officially back.
Just moments before the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes kicked off the biggest game of the season, the focus wasn’t on the game but, instead, on Lee Corso.
Corso made his last-ever appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay, and to cap off the emotional show, he had to pick which headgear to place on his head: Hook’Em the Longhorn or Brutus the Buckeye.
Unsurprisingly, Kirk Herbstreit picked his alma mater, Ohio State, and Desmond Howard picked against his former team’s, the Michigan Wolverines’, rival. Nick Saban and Pat McAfee split the rest of the votes, picking the Longhorns and the Buckeyes, respectively.
Then, breaking the hearts of Longhorn fans who had made the journey to Ohio, Corso returned to his first love, picking the Buckeyes’ headgear for his last selection ever.
ESPN College GameDay Week 1 selections
- Desmond Howard: Texas Longhorns
- Pat McAfee: Ohio State Buckeyes
- Nick Saban: Texas Longhorns
- Lee Corso: Ohio State Buckeyes
- Kirk Herbstreit: Ohio State Buckeyes
Throughout the morning, everyone from Steve Sarkisian to Matthew McConaughey to Glenn Powell made sure their appreciation for Corso's illustrious career was well known.
Of course, the game was a chance for Texas to exact revenge on the Buckeyes, who eliminated the Horns in the semifinal of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoffs. However, it was also a chance for Arch Manning to prove he’s worth all of the hype.
It was an opportunity for the Longhorns to show the world that they deserve to be the No. 1 team in the country. It was the biggest game of the week, and arguably the most important game of the entire year.
All headgear picks and predictions aside, this game just meant more, and the winner would undeniably come out as the top dawg in the world of college football. And just like that, it was time to play ball.
Texas and Ohio State kicked off a few minutes later on FOX, which had done its own tribute to Corso during Big Noon Kickoff.