Kirk Herbstreit addresses parity in college football in 2023

Kirk Herbstreit is getting a first-hand view of some renewed parity in the sport of college football throughout the 2023 season.

Ahead of the Red River Showdown between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, Herbstreit joined a legendary coach for the latter in Bob Stoops, speaking with him on his Conversations with Coach show. Stoops asked Herbstriet about the intense competition in the sport at the moment, and the ESPN analyst had some fascinating points to bring up.

“I’ve got to believe the portal has something to do with it. When I call these teams, you know Oklahoma is an example. Where they were last year to where they are this year, you know I think Brent’s (Brent Venables) been able to reload a little bit, by going into the portal and getting guys that, instead of taking a true freshman coming in who might be able to help, now you’ve got a guy that’s played two or three years somewhere, you know who he is as a college player. So I think it’s definitely helped some of these teams, and I think the behemoths have lost some critical players over the last couple of years,” Herbstreit explained. “I think the timing of it, almost has created a perfect storm. Now we don’t know how good Georgia is yet. They looked like this last year, but then they kind of took off near the end. But they had a quarterback that you kind of knew who he was. We’re still learning. All these teams.

“Alabama, quarterback. Georgia, quarterback. Ohio State, quarterback. The one team we know is Michigan, who’s got a quarterback that won a lot of big games last year. So I think that’s why it’s created this wide-open discussion about who’s the best team. Clemson, another team that’s a behemoth, they’re dealing with quarterback issues. So that’s why OU-Texas this week, for the team that wins, they’re in a really, really good place, and become teams that we’re going to be taking an even closer look at in coming weeks. Texas, because of the win against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, they became a team that’s like, ‘What’s going on with Texas?’ Florida State, because of the way they beat Clemson and they beat LSU, that got everybody excited about them. So yeah, there’s like — Washington out west, Oregon, USC. I mean, it’s a wide open discussion, as we get to almost the halfway point.”

Alas, Kirk Herbstreit recognizes it’s truly anyone’s game in 2023. Some teams will inevitably separate themselves in the future, but we’re enjoying the ride at the moment.