Can’t be straying from the league’s propaganda like that.
The Minnesota Vikings were in action tonight on Thursday Night Football…if you want to call it that. In reality there wasn’t much action from the Vikings, who dropped an embarrassing 37-10 game to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Vikings backup QB Carson Wentz spent more time on his back than Kim Kardashian, and the Vikings offense never really got going other than a touchdown pass from Wentz to Jordan Addison and a field goal from kicker Will Reichard.
And it was on a field goal attempt from Reichard that play-by-play announcer Al Michaels ended up getting himself in some hot water with the NFL.
Michaels was complimenting Reichard, who came into the game 13 for 14 on field goal attempts so far this season, with his only miss being a controversial attempt during the Vikings game against the Cleveland Browns in London when the ball appeared to hit a camera wire that was hanging in front of the goalpost.
The ball appeared to be on track before crossing the path of the camera wire, when it took a wide right turn. Fortunately the miss ended up not costing the Vikings in the game, but had it been caught during the game it would have resulted in a rekick for Reichard.
Well during the game tonight, Michaels brought up that Reichard’s only miss of the season came on the controversial kick that hit the camera cable. But apparently the NFL wasn’t happy with the veteran broadcaster, and phoned in to force him to issue a correction.
Later in the game, Michaels addressed his comments while throwing some subtle shade at the league:
“The league wants to take my lunch away because I said before that Reichard’s only miss was hitting a wire in London. The league says, ‘No no, it was an optical illusion.’
That’s not what Reichard thinks. Anyway, there you have it. We cleaned it up.”
Michaels definitely didn’t sound happy to have been scolded by the league for his comments, but it’s Roger Goodell’s world and we’re all just living in it so even Al Michaels has to suck it up sometimes.
Vanderbilt Holds Kicking Clinic Ahead Of ‘College GameDay’
Vanderbilt is playing chess while the rest of the college football world is playing checkers.
ESPN’s flagship college football pregame show is headed to the campus of the Vanderbilt University for the highly anticipated matchup between the Commodores and the Missouri Tigers. College GameDay will be down south for the weekend, just as they were last week when they traveled to Athens, Georgia (and had a lot of country music featured).
The likes of Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban will be set up to break down all things college football and predict the biggest games of the weekend, with the marquee matchup being No. 10 Vanderbilt’s home game against the talented No. 15 ranked Missouri Tigers. It wasn’t too long ago that Vandy was the laughing stock of the SEC… now they’re a powerhouse.
Just as the Commodores are taking their preparation for the game very seriously, the students of Vanderbilt are also properly prepping. How, you might ask? Well, since College GameDay is coming to Nashville, and Pat McAfee’s hosts a high-dollar kicking contest during the show every week, Vanderbilt is helping their students be ready for the big moment if they get called upon:
“Calling all Vanderbilt University students. Get ready for Pat McAfee’s College Gameday kicking contest. Practice with our guys on Alumni Lawn, 2 to 3 p.m. today!”
Yeah, that’s right. Vandy hosted a kicking clinic for their students earlier today. They evidently want nothing more than for Pat McAfee (and whoever else he swindles into the deal) to hand over thousands of dollars on Saturday.
The kicking clinic was directed by Vanderbilt’s kickers themselves – Brock Taylor and Mason Rohmiller – and Vandy’s announcement about the clinic read as follows:
“The clinic is designed to prepare students for Pat McAfee’s popular field goal kicking contest on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay,’ which will be hosted on Wyatt Lawn on Saturday morning.
One student is chosen each week at College GameDay to kick a 33-yard field goal for the chance at cash prizes — last week’s prize was $400,000. Footballs will be provided, so all you have to do is show up and get a free lesson from the experts!”
There should be a lot of Vanderbilt students ready to kick it through the uprights when Saturday rolls around.
From what I can tell, this level of preparation for College GameDay has never happened. Vandy might be trendsetters doing this, and they certainly have the attention of Pat McAfee. The college football analyst and host of The Pat McAfee Show responded to the news of the kicking clinic with this:
Pat McAfee might want to get his checkbook ready.
He wasn’t the only one that responded to Vanderbilt’s kicking clinic online. College football fans loved the move by Vandy, and flooded the reply section with some wise cracks:
We do this thing called STUDYING FOR THE TEST at Vandy.
Pat bout to get ROBBED pic.twitter.com/WNFkjr6T03
— LootCrate (@LootCrate_) October 22, 2025
Louvre isn’t the only thing getting robbed this week, it seems 😂
— Sassington, M.C. (@MissSassbox) October 22, 2025
— Michael Figueroa (@Mikefiggs) October 22, 2025
Pat might want to make it a 40 yarder
— Cody Myers (@Codymy19) October 22, 2025
Talk about a chess move in the kicking competition 😂😂
— Ⓜ️✝️🅿️ (@therealmtp1994) October 22, 2025
Vanderbilt University is famously known for its academics… so we shouldn’t be surprised by this big-brained move. And from the looks of it, the kicking clinic went very well and had a great turnout.
The College GameDay crew is probably shaking in their boots watching this:
