FOX Big Noon Kickoff fires back at ESPN, Pat McAfee over Washington State rant

The Big Noon Kickoff crew appeared to take a not-so-subtle shot at Pat McAfee for his Washington State take last week.

McAfee fired back Ryan Leaf, a former Wazzu man himself, and Cougars head coach Jake Dickert for the latter’s criticism of long time analyst Lee Corso. It all stemmed from a misunderstanding of Corso’s comments about the Washington State-Oregon State game to end September.

With the FOX pregame show not involved, the crew decided to rep Washington State and show love to the school.

Matt Leinart and Mark Ingram carried Washington State flags around the set. So it seemed to be the polar opposite of what McAfee said last week.

​​“That flag looks good, man,” host Rob Stone said. “We’ll always have love for Ol’ Crimson and Pullman right here on Big Noon Kickoff. Always.”

McAfee blasted both Leaf and Dicker, name-dropping Leaf in particular while verbally stomping all over Washington State’s parade.

“Ah, who cares! Were you guys showing this flag when they were 1-11 in 2009?” McAfee asked after CGD showed Ol’ Crimson for the 292nd consecutive week. “How about 2-10 in 2010? You were? That’s wild. So when they sucked, [College GameDay] was showing them every single week on the biggest college football show? Wow! Handle success, Ryan Leaf!

“I want a West Virginia flag flying up there every single time. We don’t get it, Washington State gets it, and all of a sudden, Washington State’s going, ‘Now Big Beav’s up there!’ Like, shut up! Washington State, [I’m] about sick of you! Waste of time on this show.”

In the original beef, Dickert claimed Corso said “in the nobody watches bowl” while on College GameDay as the crew made their picks for the game.

But Corso clearly said “nobody wants us bowl” after the two schools were the last two remaining schools in the Pac-12 after realignment this summer.

Corso, 88, can sometimes be misheard. That’s natural when it comes to an old gentleman on television. But he even followed up with “nobody wants those poor guys.”

Ultimately, it set off a firestorm that led to Kirk Herbstreit going after Leaf on Twitter and eventually McAfee’s rant on television.

Always outspoken, McAfee let it rip on live TV. Of course, the ever popular McAfee can rub some people the wrong way, if you’re not into his personality.

Safe to say, Big Noon Kickoff saw an opportunity and took its shot Saturday.