Kirk Herbstreit Not Happy With Changes To College Football

The college football landscape is changing in a hurry, and Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN’s College GameDay isn’t happy about it.

It’s official. The SEC will be expanding to include the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns, plucking the two powerhouses from the Big 12 in the process. Tradition has always played a integral part of what makes college football special, but money speaks louder.

Herbstreit echoed the same comments during an appearance on SportsCenter on Friday. He blasted the “decision-makers” for caring more about money than what makes college football special – tradition.

“I hate losing the tradition of the sport,” Herbstreit said during Friday’s edition of SportsCenter, via Chris Vannini of The Athletic. “I’ve always been, I guess, naive to it. I’ve tried to be the guy who thinks people care about tradition and rivalries. Clearly, the decision-makers don’t. It’s an arms race and it’s about the money.”

Kirk Herbstreit on SportsCenter:

“I hate losing the tradition of the sport. I’ve always been, I guess, naive to it. I’ve tried to be the guy who thinks people care about tradition and rivalries. Clearly, the decision-makers don’t. It’s an arms race and it’s about the money.”

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) July 30, 2021

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What’s ironic is the fact Kirk Herbstreit works for ESPN, the network pulling many of the strings behind the curtain. But that, of course, doesn’t disallow Herbstreit from disagreeing with the changes being made within college football.

College football has always been unique. The traditions are quirky, the fans are passionate and the regular season is special on a week-to-week basis. But things started changing the second the four-team playoff was implemented.

Entire regions of the country have essentially been left out of the postseason process (talking about you, Pac-12). The regular season has become less dramatic. And networks like ESPN really only care about five or six teams across the entire sport. There’s no turning back now.

Oklahoma and Texas are adapting to what’s working. The SEC has been, is and will be king of the sport. The Sooners and Longhorns are more than willing to leave traditions and rivalries behind.

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