Apparently, Kirk Herbstreit and his employer, ESPN, are not all that disappointed that Clemson didn't advance in the College Football Playoff. In fact, based on remarks Herbstreit made Tuesday, he's glad that the 12-team playoff has shaken out the way it has.
"We could not have paid for a better final four with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas," Herbstreit said on Tuesday's episode of the On3 Sports podcast with Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman. "The only one missing is Michigan... So, this idea we want Alabama, Texas A&M and Auburn. Are you kidding me? If you're asking us who we would want, we'll take Ohio State every year, Notre Dame. This is a ratings bonanza.
"You don't want these small little Clemsons and small little Southern schools when it comes to cheering for ratings," Herbstreit said. "Ratings are big, massive Big Ten brands."
.@KirkHerbstreit sets the record straight on ESPN SEC bias:
— On3 (@On3sports) January 7, 2025
"We could not have paid for a better final four with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas. The only one missing is Michigan... So this idea we want Alabama, Texas A&M, and Auburn. Are you kidding me?" pic.twitter.com/xbci8PfrrG
Herbstreit was trying to dispel the notion that he and his ESPN colleagues were pulling for, and even trying to influence public opinion in favor of SEC playoff hopefuls such as Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina as they tried to earn at-large bids into the field. That has been an accusation levied against many ESPN personalities, including Herbstreit, by college football fans and observers who noticed a bias toward SEC football programs coming from ESPN in the weeks leading up to the playoff.
What's more, it hasn't helped the perception of ESPN that many of its most prominent personalities have only ramped up the SEC rhetoric in the wake of blowout losses in the College Football Playoff by programs such as SMU and Indiana. Of course, no one is surprised by ESPN's SEC leanings given that the network holds the broadcast rights to that conference's regular-season games as well as the rights to much of the College Football Playoff.
Now it seems that Herbstreit is trying to backtrack and portray himself as someone who isn't just walking the company line. Tuesday's remarks came across as phony and contrived, though.
What's more, by belittling "little southern programs" like Clemson, he achieved the opposite of his intended result. Instead of trying to win back favor among the fans by showing that he isn't just an ESPN SEC homer, he further solidified himself as one of the college football media vilians by insulting programs across the south which is the hotbed of the sport, not Big Ten country.
Herbstreit continues to step in one mess after another these days and it seems like every time he opens his mouth or takes to social media, he only makes college football fans dislike him even more. Certainly, his most recent comments won't endear him to anyone in Clemson thanks to the unnecessary shot he decided to take at one of college football's most prominent programs.