Quick answer: At ESPN's College GameDay in Bloomington on Halloween, an Indiana sophomore named Jackson lined up a 33-yard field goal for $1 million in Pat McAfee's Kicking Is Easy contest, with Kirk Herbstreit holding. A lifelong soccer player, he said he'd kicked a football only "a few times." His first kick was no good. McAfee gave him a second try in honor of his late father-in-law, a Hoosiers fan. That one missed too.
Source: The Pat McAfee Show, "Can This Indiana Sophomore Win Pat McAfee's $1 Million Field Goal Challenge," clipped as a YouTube Short.
Who was kicking
The kicker was a sophomore finance and sales major from Jasper, Indiana, about an hour south of campus. He told McAfee he was a Hoosier by birth and grew up an IU fan. He'd played soccer his whole life, but when Herbstreit asked whether he'd ever kicked a football, he said, "A few times." He and his friends had practiced "with some trash cans" and said they'd been waiting outside for more than 24 hours.
He's a private student, so we're using his first name only, as the show did on air.
McAfee set the stakes with a Halloween line: making the kick "would be quite a treat," and missing it would be the trick. Indiana was hosting Minnesota later that day.
Kick one, then a second chance
The student, a Cincinnati Bengals fan, got some ribbing from McAfee, the former Indianapolis Colts punter: "You had the opportunity to be a Colt, instead you choose to be a Bengal. Now you're a Hoosier." Then he kicked. "No good."
McAfee then gave him another try. On the show he explained that his late father-in-law had been a big Hoosiers fan, and he offered the second kick in his honor. The advice from the set was to aim at the right upright.
The second kick missed too. "We can't do three," McAfee said, calling it a heartbreaker. Home Depot, the contest's sponsor, sent the student and his friends home with cookout and tailgate gear.
How the contest works
Kicking Is Easy is a regular part of McAfee's College GameDay segments, and Home Depot is the sponsor this season. Front Office Sports reports that contestants must be 18 or older and among the first 300 fans at the broadcast, and that current or former college athletes can't enter. Saturday Down South reported that the first kick hooked just outside the left upright, and that "history wound up repeating itself" on the second try.
Real-name note
Pat McAfee's full name is Patrick Justin McAfee, according to Pro-Football-Reference. He was born in Plum, Pennsylvania, kicked at West Virginia and punted for the Colts before building The Pat McAfee Show and joining College GameDay. Kirk Herbstreit, who held the ball, also goes by his real name.
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FAQ
Did the Indiana student win Pat McAfee's $1 million? No. He missed the 33-yard kick, got a second chance and missed again.
Why did Pat McAfee give him a second kick? McAfee offered it in honor of his late father-in-law, who was a Hoosiers fan.
What is Pat McAfee's real name? Patrick Justin McAfee.