Vanderbilt student Tyler Hwang, who earned fame kicking a field goal for $500,000 at ESPN’s “College GameDay,” made an appearance at the Nashville Predators game on Nov. 3.
Not only that, he participated in — and won — another contest.
During the first period of the Predators game against the Vancouver Canucks, Hwang was introduced to the Bridgestone Arena crowd before playing a game of “Smoke or Fire” on the big screen. He ended up winning the contest, which required predicting the identities of Predators players hidden behind cards.
Hwang won a prize pack from the Predators, a mere token compared to what he got for his kick on Vanderbilt’s campus.
Tyler Hwang, who was made $500k richer with his kick at Vandy’s college game day, is here at the Preds game.
And he won another contest lol pic.twitter.com/SFLEJlVAXA
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) November 4, 2025
On Oct. 25, Hwang made a 33-yard field goal during the “Kicking is Easy” contest on “College GameDay.” With ESPN analyst and former NFL kicker Pat McAfee looking on, Hwang made the kick, earning him a $500,000 payday and also sending $250,000 to charity.
ESPN’s premier college football program was on Vanderbilt’s campus prior to its matchup against Missouri. Vanderbilt won 17-10, improving to 7-1 before losing Nov. 1 to Texas, 34-31.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.