There's an old expression that exists in the world of radio and on the front yards of lazy dog owners.
"Man. You stepped in it."
And on Tuesday morning, as college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit made the rounds of radio interviews after his Tuesday night comments on ESPN College Football Final, it was clear that Herbie had stepped in it - or, at least, he felt like he had.
Herbstreit, a la Dabo Swinney just a few weeks ago, suggested the Michigan - a team struggling with a minor outbreak of COVID-19 - might have been using the virus as a way to "wave the white flag" as a way to "duck the rivalry" game against Ohio State.
And, much like with Dabo, while his hardcore supporters stuck with him, the majority of the nation responded with a loud, aggressive sigh of disappointment. It was not receied well by the majority of college football fans - at least, if social media is a great measuring stick of that response.
On Wednesday morning, Kirk broke from the Dabo playbook (who, still, two weeks later, is complaining about their game against FSU being postponed/cancelled) and issued an apology on Twitter.
First, Herbstreit did what I think is the right thing - apologizing for accusing Michigan of potentially waving the white flag and avoiding Ohio State. As I said many times during the fiasco around Florida State and Clemson and in direct response to Dabo Swinney, even if it IS true that some programs are using Coronavirus as an excuse not to play games, to put it on blast will have a more detrimental impact on our fight against the virus than calling out those who use it as an excuse will do good. But, that's another discussion for another time and place.
"I think we all go through some ups and downs, many downs for a lot of people during this COVID crisis that we're all in. And for me, in college football, I really struggle with where we are. Players opting out, teams cancelling games, it just seems like it's a downward spiral ... and I think right now, in week fourteen, with so much negativity surrounding the sport, I think that's sometimes a pressure point for me."That's fair from Kirk. We're all frustrated. Incredibly frustrated. This season sucks. I mean, it's great that we're having it and it's great that we have games to nullify the existential crisis that we were all in the middle of during our few months without sports.
Relatively speaking and compared to where we would ordinarily be during this part of the season, yeah. It sucks.
But Kirk goes on in the interview to talk about something else that caught my attention and the attention of a lot of college football fans
While speaking with former Michigan Jon Jansen, Herbie was asked to speak his mind a bit further to explain where his comments about frustration were coming from. And he laid down a doozy of an answer.
"I'm worried about the sport overall," he said. "I'm worried about the focus strictly on the playoff, that if you're not one of the playoff teams, 'Why does it even matter, who cares? Let's just opt out, let's get ready for the NFL.'"
And Kirk isn't the first person to express this viewpoint. Fans across the country have been putting players opting out on blast for not following through with their commitments to their programs. But he certainly is the most prolific to get this emotional about football.
But what was the cause of the frustration? What was it that Herbie blames?
The College Football Playoffs. And I've never agreed with Kirk more. Stay with me.
"Even when you played, which wasn't all that long ago, imagine playing at Michigan and let's just say you're 8-3 or 9-2 but you're not in the playoff race. Part of my sensitivity to the world we live in is, that's BS," Herbstreit said.
Herbstreit pointed out that when a team is basically dismissed from the college football playoff discussion, they're effecitlve dismissed from any type of discussion at all. Herbie pointed at Iowa, a team that started the season 0-2 but has since won four consecutive games, in the face of lawsuits from former players and questions about whether Kirk Ferentz would have much more time at the helm.
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7 hours ago
If you watched ESPN's College Football Playoff show Tuesday night, you probably caught some interesting remarks from Kirk Herbstreit -- remarks for which he later issued an apology. The longtime analyst and former Ohio State Buckeye suggested Michigan might use COVID-19 as an excuse to cancel its game against Ohio State next weekend and prevent its rival from going to the Big Ten Championship game.
In an interview Wednesday morning on 97.1 The Ticket, Herbstreit reiterated that he was "out of line" and "100 percent wrong" and said his comments were fueled by his frustration with the state of college football.
"I'm worried about the sport overall," he said. "I'm worried about the focus strictly on the playoff, that if you're not one of the playoff teams, 'Why does it even matter, who cares? Let's just opt out, let's get ready for the NFL.'"
Speaking with former Michigan All-American Jon Jansen, Herbstreit said the fixation with the College Football Playoff is detracting from the sport at large.
"Even when you played, which wasn't all that long ago, imagine playing at Michigan and let's just say you're 8-3 or 9-2 but you're not in the playoff race. Part of my sensitivity to the world we live in is, that's BS," Herbstreit said.
Look at Iowa, said Herbstreit. The Hawkeyes started this season 0-2 as questions swirled about a lawsuit levied against the university by a group of former players and about the future of head coach Kirk Ferentz. They've since won four games in a row.
"To me, that's one of the great stories of college football (this year) and we live in this era of, 'Does it have anything to do with the playoff? Nope, OK, who cares.' And if that's the world we're going to live in in college football, that's like March Madness," said Herbstreit. "If you're in March Madness, fill out the bracket and we're gonna get excited. But do you care about the NIT? No, unless it's maybe your school. That's what college football's turning into with this playoff. If you're in the playoff, it's March Madness, and if you're not in the playoff -- even if you're 9-2 -- good riddance. Kids are opting out of Rose Bowls, kids are opting out of Sugar Bowls. It's like, what in the hell is happening to our sport?"
And that is the crux of Herbstreits problem - a problem that we have all helped to perpetuate, and frankly, one that doesn't shock me at all.
(You can read a more thorough write-up of Herbie's interview here.)
But here's the reality: what IS the meaning of those Rose Bowls? What is the meaning of a Sugar Bowl? The players get a sweet swag bag out of the deal and a free trip to Southern California or New Orleans. But, really, compared to the paychecks the NFL offers to even practice squad players, can you tell me you'd honestly gamble that on playing in a Rose Bowl?
If you say yes to that, good for you - but please, be aware, you are a dying breed of people. Those games don't have the same amount of pride and prestige connected to them that they used to. And why not?
Because we don't give them that distinction anymore.
Everything is focused on the playoffs. Everything. You can be watching two six win teams that are already out of the race for their conferences play, and you'll still hear the play by play booth talking about the playoffs. You'll have graphics pop up after a second down that show the playoff race and who's in and who's out.
Everything feels focused on the playoffs now. It's all about the odds, who can sneak in, which favorites have the toughest paths remaining, and the like.
You want proof?
Last weekend was a de facto rivalry weekend for a lot of schools. One of those rivalries was a fantastic game between Oregon and Oregon State, the Civil War. It was a fantastic game - entertaining, engaging, visually perfect. Oregon State upset Oregon, and what was the headline the next day? What was the reaction?
"The Pac12 has been eliminated from playoff contention."
That was it. Nothing about the game. Nothing about the players. Nothing about the rivalry. All anyone cared about was the knowledge that no one in the Pac12 would be playing in the playoffs, and we all moved on.
Here's the problem: the inequality of college football has always been there. But the playoff has further exagerated them, while also diminishing the rivalry games, the conference title games, and the bowl games.
And that's an issue for one reason.
You can't correct it without getting rid of the playoffs, but the playoffs make the college football championship better. We've seen three and four seeds, teams that would not have made it to the title game in the BCS, do exactly that, and win in the playoffs.
So how do you fix it? I have only one suggestion: expand the playoffs, include autobids and at larges. That's it. And, to tell you truth, that only fixes PART of the problem.
If you have the five power five autobids, plus a G5 autobid, plus two at larges, there's a REASON for teams to fight until the end - it would be MUCH later in the season before the championship chase ends for a lot of teams.
Then you use your NY6 games as your quartersfinals and semifinals with a standalone championship game. Now your Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl have some meaning again.
Now, that Oregon vs. Oregon State game we referenced? Well, somebody still gets to win the Pac12 and go to the playoffs. So that game mattered immensely, but theoretically, the Ducks and Beavers STILL have a reason to fight, not to opt out, to continue this season.
The other solution, the one as an answer to "how do we get kids to stay and play after their team is knocked out?"There's only one answer.
Pay them. That's it.
If you're not paying them, there IS no reason to stay. YOU being happy about wins and losses, YOU being proud of your school and wanting to put all the W's on the books you can get doesn't mean that THEY have to feel the same way. At all. And they won't.
Players recognize the NFL is going to pay, even if they only sign one contract. College football, frankly, doesn't. And the ugly reality is that they can always come back to college to get an education later. They can't go back to the NFL a few years later if their prime is wasted or, worse, if they get catastrophically injured playing college ball and can't make it back.
It's not a reality you have to like, but it is a reality.
They're looking out for themselves, and just like you when you make decisions about your health, wellness, and professional life - they're not wrong for it.
College football doesn't have the same emotion built into it that it used to. You have two options: take the steps above to fix it, or recognize that it's just a filter league amongst the top tier teams, and accept it fully.
