Kirk Herbstreit explains College GameDay comments, reveals real reason for rant

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit was in the news on Satruday, having a controversial take on players opting out. He said players not participating in bowl games showed they did not love the sport as much as others have in the past.

Herbstreit had the opportunity to clarify his comments, again, on The ESPN College Football Podcast. He talked about it from the perspective of the broadcast companies but still said he does not fully understand why players are opting out.

“Ask any TV executive their concern about the future,” Herbstreit said. “It’s people watching these games and keeping people interested in these games as each generation keeps getting older and older. I don’t think I was saying anything groundbreaking with ‘kids don’t love the sport the way they used to’ but tying it to opt-outs is what I think happened there. People looking at it and saying ‘well, they’re opting out. They don’t love the game the way they used to.’

“What I was trying to say there is, it would be great to understand how players that are fortunate to look at themselves as a potential first-rounder and they’re weighing that option. Do I play with my boys one last time or do I forgo this last bowl game and not get hurt and the money is going to be more important than that last experience? Again, I can’t understand that.”

Kirk Herbstreit thinks bowl opt outs could snowball

Herbstreit’s worry for bowl opt-outs goes way past this season. During College Gameday on New Year’s Day, he was focused on the word “meaningless” when talking about non-College Football Playoff games. He gave an example of a potential thought process with Georgia tight end Brock Bowers.

“My point is, on ‘meaningless’ bowl games: What’s this going to lead to?” Herbstreit said. “Once you establish yourself, like a Brock Bowers. Every game he plays, if that’s the lens you’re choosing to look in, the end goal is the NFL. Brock Bowers, the rest of his career, the games are meaningless. He’s an NFL tight end right now. His next two years … he shouldn’t play.

“If his goal is to go to the NFL, sit out the next two years. Don’t play. Go work out, go to Phoenix, lift, get ready. Once you’ve established yourself as an NFL player, games are ‘meaningless,’ I guess, through the lens of the way some of these guys look. That’s what it’s going to lead to next. Skip bowl games, skip regular season, why play? I think [that’s] where it might go.”