College Football Fans Are Officially Fed Up With Kirk Herbstreit
What's going on with Kirk Herbstreit?
The longtime face of ESPN's college football coverage went after the sport in more ways than one this weekend. The former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback turned broadcaster took shots at the College Football Playoff selection committee and the "lunatic fringe" fan bases.
Herbstreit, who resides in Nashville, first took a shot at the College Football Playoff selection committee for including 11-1 Indiana in the field.
“The atmosphere was historic. The game was not, you know,” Kirk Herbstreit said Saturday on ESPN College GameDay following Notre Dame's 27-17 win over Indiana.
“And I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Why was Indiana in?’ But Indiana, with what you guys like to talk about, ‘They have 11 wins. They’ve gotta be one of the best teams.’ Indiana was outclassed in that game. It was not a team that should’ve been on that field when you consider other teams that could’ve been there.”
He added: “It’s no knock on Indiana. They had a great year. But we’ve gotta move forward with the playoff and hope that the committee does a better job of weighing who the best 12 are, versus who’s the most deserving, because by golly they’ve got 11 wins. They didn’t beat anybody, but they’ve got 11 wins.
“That’s a bunch of BS. We need to find the best teams, and last night it was incredibly evident, just standing on that field and watching the game the way it played out.”
LANDOVER, MD - OCTOBER 05: Kirk Herbstreit looks on from the sideline prior to the Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime at FedEx Field on October 5, 2023 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
Then, on Saturday night, Herbstreit took a shot at the Ohio State Buckeyes fan base.
"The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country. It used to be 8 to 10 (percent), I think it's grown now to about 15 to 20. I'm sure they'll be happy tonight, fired up about what the team did, but God forbid they lose to Oregon. They'll want to fire [Day] again," said Herbstreit.
"First Take tried to fire him. They thought he was done, so I'll be excited to see what they talk about on Monday after this performance. They had him out, trying to find replacements. But here he is, he still has his hat on. He's still coaching."
College football fans are officially fed up with the prominent ESPN analyst.
"Pushing those company narratives. Guys a sellout," one fan wrote.
"Dude he’s been whack since his son didn’t get a call congratulating him on being a 2 star recruited to Michigan. I think being on the road too much and getting his ego inflated turned him back into the 10TV guy and 97.1 the fan guy everyone hated so much who worked with him," one fan added.
"Two things: 1) He does too much. Taking on the Thursday NFL thing was dumb. He’s probably burned out. 2) ESPN and FOX are basically like cable news channels now. They have their point of view and just firehose out cherry-picked data that supports “their team” based on TV deals," one fan added.
"YES! Same energy! Should Alabama be in? They were behind Tennessee. You let Tennessee in. How uncompetitive was that game? What a . Maybe, just maybe there should only be 6 or 8 teams to get rid of these “uncompetitive” ones. Your employer wouldn’t like you to say that," one fan added.
Herbstreit probably is overworked and tired at this point. He calls both the Thursday night NFL game for Amazon, does College GameDay on Saturday mornings and then the ABC Game of the Week on Saturday night.
Maybe get some rest over Christmas and recharge, Herbie. It sounds like he needs it.
