SALT LAKE CITY — When speaking of Pat McAfee, the usual axiom is you either love him or hate him.
On Monday, the ESPN star left little doubt where he stands when it comes to the University of Utah after his weekend appearances ahead of the Utes win over Houston.
"Did not enjoy University of Utah. Did not enjoy," McAfee said during his show to start the week.
McAfee said the focus of his dissatisfaction stemmed from the school's Instagram page sharing a video ahead of ESPN's GameDay broadcast where students called him "corny" and "creepy." According to McAfee, he took issue with the video being supported and posted by the university.
"If these kids would have done this on their own blogs, all good. I mean, everybody's taking shots at me anyways for everything. I get it," he said. "The university puts that out, like as I'm about to go out and do an infomercial for the place. And then I'm walking in front of thousands of these people.
"This is how the university feels about it. It's an uncomfortable feeling."
BYU freshman becomes a millionaire with a single kick before football game:
McAfee believes the criticism shared in the video was a bad look for the university coming so soon after the 2025 shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus.
"I would say it made me feel a little bit weird. And then I thought to myself, has anything like really scary happened at like a college gathering in the state of Utah recently?" McAfee asked rhetorically. "Like, do we think we should be amplifying reasons for why people hate my guts as a university?"
"...The university gaslighting, some of it right before I go out there to talk about your school, especially with what happened 40 miles south of Salt Lake City a little over a year ago?"
The outspoken member of the ESPN GameDay team was also taken aback by the participant in his weekly "Kicking Is Easy" contest in which one student is selected to kick a field for $1 million. Ahead of last week's Notre Dame-BYU game, McAfee upped the prize to $3 million, which was challenged by Saturday's competitor.
"...and then obviously the kicker goes, 'Only $1 million?' It's my money! It's like, all right, I hate this place. I hate this place."
McAfee did acknowledge that the No. 6 Utes have a good football team and an "incredible" MUSS student section, but added, "I've never been more uncomfortable."
Before he finished, McAfee said he hopes to never come back to the University of Utah, adding that he might have COVID if ESPN GameDay ever returns.