Pat won’t be singing “Country Roads” in Pittsburgh anytime soon
PublishedNovember 15, 2025 12:55 PM EST•UpdatedNovember 15, 2025 12:48 PM EST
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If you’re at all familiar with the lore of college football, you remember the chaotic season that was 2007.
Upsets were the flavor of the year, as 62 ranked teams lost to lower or unranked squads throughout the season.
One of the more infamous upsets of the 2007 season happened in Morgantown, West Virginia, right smack in the middle of championship weekend.
The West Virginia Mountaineers were ranked number two in the BCS standings and eyeing the possibility of their first national championship in program history.
All they had to do was take care of business in the Backyard Brawl against a Pitt Panthers team that wasn’t even bowl eligible.
Unfortunately, the Mountaineer offense stagnated and their kicker, future College GameDay host Pat McAfee, had the yips, missing two chip shot field goals and sinking West Virginia’s dreams of playing for a championship.
The final score of 13–9 has become somewhat of a rallying cry in the Steel City, and with McAfee returning to his hometown of Pittsburgh with the GameDay crew, Pitt fans made sure to remind him of his follies 18 years ago.
That is absolutely vintage college football rivalry stuff, right there.
To McAfee’s credit, he rolled with the punches fairly well, trying to troll the crowd with his rendition of “Country Roads,” a classic West Virginia tune.
Panthers fans were obviously having none of that, and thus, the pejorative chants commenced.
Props to the Panther faithful, they understood the assignment for this one.
It’s not often that College GameDay sets up shop at the confluence of the three rivers, and you know every Pitt fan was licking their chops to get their trolls off this morning.
It’s even more impressive considering most of the students at Pitt today were in diapers when McAfee had his worst day in a West Virginia jersey.
I love it when the next generation pays homage to the history of this great game.
As for McAfee, I’m sure he’s doing quite alright.
Those memories probably still sting, but he just recently signed an $85 million deal to stay with ESPN and just recently interviewed the president.
December 1, 2007, was a rough night for him, but it looks like he’s (mostly) put it behind him.