Is Kirk Herbstreit to blame? Florida State fans sure seem to think he is. Every time the college football face of ESPN posts on X or you see a video interview of him on TV or a podcast, the comments immediately begin to pile. FSU fans call him a sellout, they say he ruined college football and that he led down his 30-year on-air friend Lee Corso. Heck, they even say his dog Ben is unhappy. It’s become a thing. And it’s not correct.
Say what you want about Herbstreit and his comments about FSU not being a lock to get in even before the Jordan Travis injury…
Skip. Did you see this from Herbstreit before Jordan Travis got hurt?
They’re just using his injury for something they planned all along. pic.twitter.com/L2sclsi5Iq
— Shaun (@osha3264) December 5, 2023
Or the behind the scenes celebration when Alabama pulled one out against Auburn on a miracle 4th down play…
Watch Kirk Herbstreit react to Alabama’s clutch Iron Bowl victory: pic.twitter.com/nR9pu5nxf6
— Sidelines – Bama (@SSN_Alabama) November 26, 2023
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Or how he doubled down on FSU being left out as the right thing to do over and over again…
Kirk Herbstreit reacts on the College Football Playoff Selection Show.
"I think the committee did a great job. I tip my cap as well." pic.twitter.com/YuO4d2239G
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 3, 2023
But let’s be clear. Talking heads opine and sometimes talk out of both sides of their mouth. I do it and everyone does it. Herbstreit isn’t on the selection committee and to think that he solely had any input into the decision is dumb and asinine.
ESPN? Sure. The TV deal with the SEC is massive and FSU happened to be unlucky enough to run the table in a year when there wasn’t a dominant team to finish things off in that conference. Clemson made the playoff numerous times and could afford a loss because there was either one or two juggernaut SEC teams each year. This year the SEC needed to be wedged and forced in because Georgia lost. And guess what? Had UGA won, Texas would have gotten in ahead of FSU as well because they are a future SEC team. That’s what TV wanted and TV gets what it wants, just ask Penn State in 2016.
So I get that FSU fans are angry and it’s a tough fan base to anger — they are rabid and can be nasty. And Herbstreit will feel the brunt of this for the rest of his career. Hell, I still have Seminoles fans reminding me I picked Myron Rolle to pass on the Seminoles out of high school. He’s 37 now and a neurosurgery fellow at Harvard. They never forget and this snub is arguably the biggest screw-over job in college football in 20 or more years and easily the biggest of the college football playoff era. And Seminoles fans have to blame someone, someone famous and someone big. But their angst is unfounded.
I’ve met Kirk Herbstreit many times over the years but haven’t seen him in ages. But people don’t change on a dime. He’s always been one of the most welcoming and gracious big names in college football and is one of the nicest guys around. But that doesn’t matter to FSU fans and I get it.
Writing this won’t do a thing. It’s actually something I’m writing out of curiosity to see how many level-headed FSU fans there are out there. I’ll be attacked for it of course even though I’m the first to say FSU got absolutely robbed. Did I want to see them play Michigan with Tate Rodemaker as opposed to a full-strength Alabama team? Nope. We have the TV matchups most fans want aside. But they got screwed and it’s absolute crap and sickens me. But to see the displaced anger against Herbsteit kinda sucks. Nothing will change it and the more Herbsteit digs in the worse it will get. And the whole thing is just an absolute shame.
