Pat McAfee. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Watch: Cal student wins $100K from ESPN's Pat McAfee, $600K donated to hurricane relief

By Austen Bundy | Last updated Oct 5, 2024 11:35 AM ET

It's college football Week 6 and ESPN's "College GameDay" is in Berkeley, Calif., for the first time in the program's history.

One Cal student named Daniel was this week's lucky participant to take a crack at host Pat McAfee's field-goal-kicking contest. If he made a 33-yard kick, he would win $75,000. He missed — but not by much.

Shocking McAfee and co-host Kirk Herbstreit, Daniel's boot had the distance but went wide right. Because of the surprising effort, McAfee awarded Daniel another shot but upped the stakes.

A successful kick would earn him $100,000 (the prize usually reserved for the end-of-season shows) and also tack on an additional $100,000 to the already-pledged $500,000 "College GameDay" is donating to Hurricane Helene relief efforts.

This time, Daniel nailed the kick right down the middle with a few yards to spare.

MISSED THE FIRST ONE, BUT NAILED THE SECOND KICK IN HIS VANS

Daniel is walking away with $100k and $600K is being donated to Hurricane Helene relief efforts. pic.twitter.com/6mGOLjAE7b
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 5, 2024

It's the largest prize McAfee and "College GameDay" have doled out to date.

"College GameDay" chose the home of the California Golden Bears for Saturday's first ACC matchup between them and the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes. Cal and Stanford joined the East Coast-based conference this season after the near-dissolution of the Pac-12.

The two teams have met only twice before with Cal winning both meetings, the most recent of which was in 2008 and hosted by Miami.

Austen Bundy

Austen Bundy is a journalist and sports junkie from the Washington, D. C. area

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