Tuesday, Kirk Hebrstreit angered tons of people across America with his rant about the College Football Playoff. Specifically, he said that his employer, ESPN, doesn't want southern schools such as Clemson in the College Football Playoff's biggest games because big brands from the Big Ten bring in better numbers.
"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."
Those remarks furthered Herbstreit's evolution from straight-laced and beloved college football analyst to ESPN homer and a villain of the sport as he continues to alienate a massive portion of his viewing audience with controversial takes. What's more, the ratings from the entire history of the College Football Playoff show that Herbstreit is off the mark, especially when it comes to Clemson.
A social media post shared on X by The Off-Season shows just how wrong Herbstreit was with Tuesday's shot at Clemson and southern schools.
2020 semi-final game had more viewers than the national championship game.
— The off-season (@TheOffSeasonCFB) January 7, 2025
According to The Off-Season, there were 38 College Football Playoff games contested between when the format was created in 2014 and the 2022-23 season. In that same time, there have been 70 New Year's Six bowl games held.
Of that group of games, Clemson has appeared in the No. 6, No. 7, No. 8, and No. 9 most-watched games. That directly contrasts Herbstreit's notion that the Tigers are bad for ratings.
For instance, in 2016, when Clemson played Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in the CFP semifinal, there were 19.6 million viewers. Of course, Herbstreit might suggest that the large audience for that game was built on the back of the Big Ten school.
However, that same year, even more people were by the channel when Clemson played another "little southern school", Alabama, in the National Championship Game. That night, 25.2 million people watched the game.
What's more, in 2017, when Clemson met Alabama, in the CFP semifinal in the Sugar Bowl, the number was again massive. That year, 21.4 million people joined in to watch.
2018 saw the Tigers and the Crimson Tide meet again for the National Championship. That game had a viewership of 25.2 million. Interestingly enough, when Clemson played Notre Dame, another school Herbstreit mentioned Tuesday as being good for ratings, that season, there were only 16.8 million viewers for that semifinal showdown in the Cotton Bowl.
2019's title game between southern schools Clemson and LSU drew a massive 25.5 million viewers. That was far more than the 2020 semifinal game that Clemson played against Ohio State, a game that drew 19.1 million viewers. But interestingly enough, that semifinal game drew more viewers than the National Championship game between Bama and Ohio State proving that Clemson is a heck of a ratings draw.
The point is clear. Clemson fans and all of American can see that Herbstreit is being nothing but a promotional machine for his employer and that is sad given what he's meant to the sport over the past two decades.
He does't really have the numbers on his side to support Tuesday's controversial comments and he should have done some research before specifically throwing Clemson under the bus. That's because the ratings show that the Tigers are a great TV draw, even if Herbstreit wants everyone to believe differently.