Dan Dakich defends Pat McAfee from 'idiotic' backlash

Pat McAfee Faces Fan Backlash After College GameDay Midterm Results.

A viral post demanding Pat McAfee be fired from ESPN's College GameDay crossed one million views on X (formerly Twitter) on November 4, 2026.

The post, written by a user named Brandon, read: "I want Pat McAfee fired by midnight @espn."

Hundreds of users piled on in the replies.

One viewer wrote: "You are speaking my language. I dont watch espn any longer. Its sky sports for me."

Another demanded: "Need him fired on live TV."

A third joked: "only time the words 'want' and 'pat mcafee' will ever be used together."

The backlash came just one day after MSNBC's Joe Scarborough went after McAfee on his show Morning Joe.

Scarborough praised Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Nick Saban but said McAfee had taken too much attention away from the rest of the panel.

Co-host Willie Geist agreed, saying the Saturday morning program had changed too much since McAfee became a full-time member in 2022.

Geist felt the broadcast had become too centered on one personality rather than the wider college football experience.

Scarborough also mocked McAfee for being "so freaked out because two kids in Utah put up signs or say something that might offend you."

That remark referred to McAfee's October visit to the University of Utah, where a video posted by the university showed students making jokes about him.

McAfee said he felt "very, very uncomfortable" on campus and referenced the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was killed at Utah Valley University in 2025.

The criticism didn't stop there.

Former ESPN personality Katie Nolan also weighed in on her Casuals podcast, released Wednesday, November 5.

Nolan accused McAfee of acting irresponsibly and then expecting others to protect his emotional well-being.

"The guy is winning in every sense of the word, and yet is constantly acting like the world is attacking him baselessly," Nolan said.

"He acts irresponsibly, but then wants everyone to be responsible for his emotional well-being, and to take care of him."

Nolan acknowledged McAfee's energy and value to sports broadcasting.

"When Pat adds to a broadcast, he really can. He's got a lot of energy, and in an industry that's usually full of old-guard guys, it's good to have that youthful energy injected," Nolan said.

But she argued that being a prominent personality means accepting that not everyone will approve of what he says or does.

Then came Dan Dakich.

On Wednesday, the OutKick host fired back at Scarborough in a scathing defense of McAfee.

Dakich corrected Scarborough's claim that "kids" had made signs, noting that the university's official account had instead shared something of "kids coming at Pat McAfee."

He said everyone on Morning Joe talking about college sports looked like "idiots."

Dakich argued that College GameDay was "stale" and "dead in the water" until McAfee arrived.

He accused Scarborough of co-opting sports fandom to look like a "real guy" and compared him to the time Tim Walz apparently misused the term "Hail Mary."

Dakich also pointed out that McAfee wasn't one of the issues voters cared about on Election Day.