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You could have made a lot of winning bets tailing Lee Corso’s headgear picks

You could have made a lot of winning bets tailing Lee Corso’s headgear picks

At the most basic level, you want to convert on just over 50% of wagers in order for it to be a worthwhile endeavor. Sure, there are some things in the weeds like juiced money-lines and even point spreads, but picking winners is picking winners is picking winners.

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During his career on ESPN’s College GameDay, a career that will end on week one of the upcoming season at a to be determined location, Lee Corso picked a lot of winners. He wasn’t just over 50% on his picks. He was correct on nearly two-thirds of his headgear selections, posting a 286-144 record in his 430 picks.

Coach Lee Corso by the numbers

430 mascot headgear picks
66.5% win rate of picks all-time
Perfect season = 1999

More on LC’s 38 years on @CollegeGameDay: https://t.co/RpjhSPhmQJ pic.twitter.com/nY3hoTDbSm

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 17, 2025

Sure, Corso was probably picking a LOT of favorites. 17-0 picking USC? Most of those winning picks were during the Pete Carroll heyday in Los Angeles when it was easy to pick the Trojans. Though as Texas fans know, Corso bucked conventional wisdom and picked Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns to win the 2006 Rose Bowl.

The most popular selections function as evidence. Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, and Florida, four programs that have won national championships in the past 20 years, account for 130 of his 430 selections.

Still, a 66.5% win rate is impressive.

Let’s look at notable Corso stats via GameDayCole with a view of rivals first. When Corso was picking against the Texas A&M Aggies, he was a perfect 7-0. That includes this past year’s renewal of the rivalry when in College Station, Corso heard boos horse laughs as he put on the Hook Em head ahead of Texas’ 17-7 win.

When picking against Oklahoma, Corso was a less impressive 6-16. That includes a 1-4 record when picking the Longhorns over the Sooners at the Red River Shootout. Corso was on the money in 2009, though.

And when it comes to the Longhorns, Corso was 10-7 when picking teams coached by Mack Brown, Tom Herman, and Steve Sarkisian. Charlie Strong‘s iteration of the program was never featured on College GameDay.

Overall, Corso was 12-13 picking games the Longhorns were involved in — a step down from his overall trend.

A 66.5% win rate gives credence to Corso’s label as an “expert” when talking about what was usually the most important college football game of the week. So too does his epic 1999, when he was 11-0. That includes GameDay’s first trip to Austin for a contest between the Longhorns and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a game Corso picked correctly thanks to No. 18 Texas’ 24-20 win over No. 3 Nebraska.

He also nailed some of the wacky picks. He was spot on when picking Williams over Amherst in 2007. Dressed as Ben Franklin, he correctly selected Penn to beat Harvard in a 2002 game that essentially determined the Ivy League champion. In 2022, Corso picked Montana State to beat Montana in the “Brawl of the Wild.” As the graphic notes above, the North Dakota State Bison have been great to Sunshine Scooter.

How has Corso fared in national championship game headgear picks? By season

1999 – Correctly picked Florida State over Tennessee

2000 – Wrongly picked Florida State over Oklahoma

2001 – Wrongly picked Nebraska over Miami

2002 – Wrongly picked Miami over Ohio State

2003 – Correctly picked LSU over Oklahoma

2004 – Correctly picked USC over Oklahoma

2005 – Correctly picked Texas over USC

2006 – Correctly picked Florida over Ohio State

2007 – Wrongly picked Ohio State over LSU

2008 – Correctly picked Florida over Oklahoma

2009 – Wrongly picked Texas over Alabama

2010 – Wrongly picked Oregon over Auburn

2011 – Wrongly picked LSU over Alabama

2012 – Wrongly picked Notre Dame over Alabama

2013 – Correctly picked Florida State over Auburn

2014 – Correctly picked Ohio State over Oregon

2015 – Wrongly picked Clemson over Alabama

2016 – Wrongly picked Alabama over Clemson

2017 – Correctly picked Alabama over Georgia

2018 – Correctly picked Clemson over Alabama

2019 – Correctly picked LSU over Clemson

2020 – Wrongly picked Ohio State over Alabama

2021 – Correctly picked Georgia over Alabama

2022 – Wrongly picked TCU over Georgia

2023 – Correctly picked Michigan over Washington

2024 – Wrongly picked Notre Dame over Ohio State

That’s a 13-13 record in the most important college football game of the year. Hey, not everyone is perfect.

But just part of the story of Corso’s incredible career on ESPN’s College GameDay. The headgear selection was the pinnacle of the show, and something that never seemed to jump the shark as so many fads tend to do.

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And more often than not, as one of the faces of the media that covered the sport, if not a face of the sport, Corso was right.

The post You could have made a lot of winning bets tailing Lee Corso’s headgear picks appeared first on On3.

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