Lee Corso has entertained legions of college football fans over the past several decades with his commentary, antics and predictions on ESPN’s “College GameDay” show.

From waving his Dixon Ticonderoga pencils to snapping “Not so fast, my friend” to donning mascot headgear while making his game picks, Corso has been a one-of-a-kind fixture on fall Saturday mornings since 1987.

Thursday’s announcement that Corso, 89, will retire in August must have been an especially crushing blow to the mascot said to be his “best friend,” the Oregon Duck. Those were “GameDay” host Rece Davis’ words, but viewers could plainly see the mutual admiration between the two over the years. Kirk Herbstreit of “GameDay” at least once described Eugene as Corso’s favorite place to visit with the popular preview show.

In Corso’s 11 trips to Eugene for the show, he picked the Oregon Ducks to win all 11 times. Corso would don the Duck headgear to close the broadcast, always to roars of support from the crowd of fans clad in green and yellow. He picked correctly eight times, the only misses coming in Oregon’s losses to Cal in 2007 and to Stanford in 2012 and 2018.

Across all broadcasts in which he picked Oregon to win, Corso went 14-7.

A couple of times, Corso held a live Duck on the set. When “GameDay” made its first (and only) visit to Corvallis in 2010 for the rivalry matchup between Oregon and Oregon State, Corso wore the Duck headgear while the Duck mascot wore headgear of Corso.

Corso missed last fall’s broadcast in Eugene ahead of the Oregon vs. Ohio State matchup due to health issues, so his last broadcast from UO will go down as the 2022 show when former Ducks star Sabrina Ionescu served as the guest picker.

Here’s a look back at some of Corso’s memorable moments from the “GameDay” trips to Eugene and Corvallis.

Sept. 23, 2000: Oregon vs. No. 6 UCLA

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 29-10.

Sept. 29, 2007: No. 10 Oregon vs. No. 6 Cal

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon lost 31-24.

Nov. 3, 2007: No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 6 Arizona State

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 35-23.

Oct. 31, 2009: No. 10 Oregon vs. No. 4 USC

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 47-20.

Oct. 2, 2010: No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 9 Stanford

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 52-31.

Dec. 4, 2010: Oregon State vs. No. 1 Oregon

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 37-20.

Oct. 15, 2011: No. 9 Oregon vs. No. 18 Arizona State

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 41-27.

Nov. 17, 2012: No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 14 Stanford

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon lost 17-14 in overtime.

Oct. 26, 2013: No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 12 UCLA

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 42-14.

Sept. 6, 2014: No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 7 Michigan State

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 46-27.

Sept. 22, 2018: No. 20 Oregon vs. No. 7 Stanford

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon lost 38-31 in overtime.

Oct. 22, 2022: No. 10 Oregon vs. No. 9 UCLA

Corso’s pick: Oregon. Result: Oregon won 45-30.

— Joel Odom writes about trending topics in news, life and culture, and sports. Reach him at 503-221-8594, [email protected] or @jkodom on Blue Sky.