The Army-Navy Game is one of college football’s great traditions. But it’s one that seemed to slip the mind of ESPN lead analyst Kirk Herbstreit in a social media post.
Herbstreit was promoting his Nonstop podcast with Joey Galloway on Monday. And in a tweet that has since been deleted, he posted a clip with the caption, “Saturday not having college football threw us for a loop” complete with a laughing face emoji.
Of course, there was college football on Saturday, whether Kirk Herbstreit was aware of it or not.
Herbstreit’s tweet drew a direct response from the Naval Academy. Navy Athletics quote tweeted the message with a photo from the Army-Navy Game. Navy won a thrilling contest 17-16 in college football’s most storied rivalry game that has had a standalone window on the Saturday after the conference championship game for years. And while it might not have an impact on the College Football Playoff standings, it’s still one of the most watched games of the year. Last season, over 9 million people tuned in, a record audience for CBS.
In addition to the Army-Navy Game, there were several other college football games that took place last Saturday. Bowl season got underway with Washington playing Boise State in a decent matchup. The FCS playoffs had their quarterfinals and South Carolina State beat Prairie View A&M in the Celebration Bowl.
If you go back and listen to the podcast clip that was deleted from the beginning of their show, Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway don’t actually say that there wasn’t any football last weekend. Rather, it’s more their reflections about being home for the first time since August. Kirk Herbstreit is a huge fan of former College GameDay guest picker Nate Bargatze and was invited to one of his shows in Nashville. After a discussion of their weekend, it was straight into Fernando Mendoza winning the Heisman, the Michigan drama, and the College Football Playoff, skipping past Army-Navy and the other games from the weekend.
The diss from Herbstreit towards Army-Navy probably wasn’t intentional, but it does show a lack of care and awareness to the greater college football world that exists outside the CFP and the power four conferences. College GameDay skipped the Army-Navy Game this year and hasn’t been on site since 2021. This whole kerfuffle following Joel Klatt’s admission that he hates the NCAA Tournament and Cinderella stories shows that it’s harder than ever for those on the margins in college football to get any respect and appreciation whatsoever. And because of the tradition and what it means beyond the records and the standings, if there’s one college football game you shouldn’t forget about, it’s Army-Navy.
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