‘Brother Pat Is Riding With the Mormons,’ ‘Mocking the Book of Mormon’ — Pat McAfee Picks BYU After Scripture-Reading Analyst Criticized
‘Brother Pat Is Riding With the Mormons,’ ‘Mocking the Book of Mormon’ — Pat McAfee Picks BYU After Scripture-Reading Analyst Criticized
Oliver Hodgkinson Sat, October 17, 2026 at 6:07 PM UTC
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Sep 21, 2026; Inglewood, CA, USA; Pat McAfee on the ESPN Monday Night Countdown set at SoFi Stadium. © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
“College GameDay” waited 17 years to return to Provo, and Pat McAfee marked the occasion by pulling out a Book of Mormon. The ESPN analyst read from it on air Saturday morning, then picked the No. 8 BYU Cougars to beat the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish tonight in the first meeting between two top-10 teams in Provo.
The crowd ate it up. Not everyone watching did, with McAfee accused of mocking the book, and other viewers contrasted the moment with what they described as the show’s ban on religious signs.
Pat McAfee Reads Scripture Before Backing the BYU Cougars
Rece Davis called the turnout “an elite crowd,” and McAfee played to it. According to the Deseret News, he drew loud cheers by bringing up D. Todd Christofferson’s general conference talk on gambling, and at one point the crowd chanted “baptize Pat!”
Then the Book of Mormon came out. McAfee opened it to 1 Nephi 17:36, a verse about the Lord creating the earth to be inhabited and his children to possess it, and quickly found the football in it.
“As Nephi said about the children possessing it, and I don’t know if this is what the Book of Mormon was referring to, but if they were possessing offense, I think BYU’s great at it,” McAfee said, according to KUTV.
He then gave Utah the same compliment, and the crowd booed. McAfee posted the moment to his own account.
When the show got to its picks, they broke 2-2. Nick Saban and Desmond Howard took Notre Dame.
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Steve Young took BYU and told viewers not to sleep on Bear Bachmeier. McAfee went with Young and suggested the Book of Mormon he had read earlier might be the reason, according to the Deseret News.
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“College GameDay”’s own account opened its wrap-up of the show with the punchline of that answer: “Brother Pat is riding with the Mormons.”
Cougars Fans Cheer as and Other Viewers Push Back
BYU fans online were thrilled, and plenty of viewers said it was nowhere on their bingo card. “Pat McAfee reading from the Book of Mormon and giving that sermon was incredible,” one viewer wrote.
Brad Crawford read it the other way: “Now we’ve got Pat McAfee mocking the Book of Mormon on College GameDay. Why does ESPN continue to trot this stuff out there?”
Fans in his replies pushed back, questioning whether McAfee had mocked anything at all, and one called the segment a good Christian message.
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A separate complaint was aimed at the show rather than at McAfee’s tone. “No Christianity signs on Gameday, but Pat McAfee can read the Book of Mormon on air,” one viewer wrote, and a second made the same point.
The pick, at least, gets an answer tonight, when the teams kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Pro Football Network’s College Football Playoff Meter gives BYU a 59.7% chance to make the College Football Playoff, rising to 75.4% with a win and falling to 51.3% with a loss, but only a 34.9% chance to win the game, which leaves McAfee and Young on the underdog side.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
Source: “AOL Sports”
