College football analysts like Kirk Herbstreit and Joel Klatt are paid to give their takes on the sport and its new era, but an unlikely voice spoke out during this year’s College Football Playoff when ESPN announcer Sean McDonough questioned whether Indiana was “worthy” of its at-large bid after being blown out by Notre Dame.
With the Hoosiers down four scores late in the first weekend of the Playoff, McDonough called the game a “dud” and predicted that there would be “a lot of discussion” about whether 11-win Indiana deserved its place in the bracket.
Now, it sure sounds like McDonough wishes he could take those words back. The respected college football announcer, who called the national championship game on ESPN Radio this week, helped amp up the criticism around the 12-team Playoff that ultimately got out of hand.
In a new feature story at The Ringer, McDonough told media reporter Bryan Curtis that he regrets the comments — and believes they were misconstrued.
“I felt bad that it became kind of skewed that I said they don’t belong,” McDonough said. “Because I didn’t say that. I do believe they belonged.”
“What I said was, because they didn’t play well and the game was so one-sided, that I do think it was going to spur on debate. Which maybe I started.”
McDonough can argue he foreshadowed the debate around Indiana and other lower seeds (like SMU and Tennessee). And in fairness, his prediction was accurate. Herbstreit and Klatt battled all winter. At ESPN, which airs the whole Playoff, everyone from Shannon Sharpe to Rece Davis got swallowed up in the debate around seeding. But of course, McDonough added some heat to the debate by highlighting it on the broadcast.
After a hugely entertaining Playoff, many appear to be walking back their critiques. As many have noted, early blowouts are commonplace from the NFL playoffs to the NCAA basketball tournaments. Once those were out of the way, historic programs and star players took over and the Playoff looked like a success.
Hopefully, folks like McDonough will hold their commentary next year and be a little more patient.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.