Skenes, Dunne make an unsurprising pick: Geaux LSU
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Before Pirates ace Paul Skenes and national champion gymnast Livvy Dunne became MLB¡¯s current power couple, they were LSU¡¯s golden couple ... or geaux-lden couple.
On Saturday, Skenes and Dunne were in Baton Rouge, La., as the celebrity guest pickers on ESPN¡¯s ¡°College GameDay¡± pregame show.
Skenes said he ¡°did his homework¡± in preparation to pick some winners, which led another LSU national champion, former head coach Nick Saban, to joke with the National League Rookie of the Year candidate: ¡°Paul, is this the first homework you¡¯ve done at LSU?¡±
¡°It¡¯s been a while,¡± he responded.
GameDay host Rece Davis then chimed in: ¡°When you throw 103 [mph], A, A, A.¡±
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There was no homework needed for Skenes and Dunne¡¯s pick for the marquee game of the day: No. 11 Alabama versus the 15th-ranked Tigers.
¡°There¡¯s only one right answer,¡± Dunne said, ¡°and it¡¯s LSU.¡±
Unfortunately, their loyalty was not rewarded as Alabama rolled to a 42-13 victory.
Skenes guided the Tigers baseball team to a national title in 2023, a couple of weeks before the Pirates made him the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft. In April, Dunne and the LSU gymnastics team captured that program¡¯s first national championship.
She was in attendance at PNC Park a few weeks later when Skenes made his MLB debut against the Cubs. He went on to have a spectacular first year in the big leagues, highlighted by a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts over 133 innings.
Skenes isn¡¯t the only MLB star to try his hand at being an college football prognosticator lately. Two weeks ago, the Phillies¡¯ Kyle Schwarber set a high bar when he showed up to the GameDay set supporting Indiana University from head to toe and ultimately made correct picks on eight of his nine games.