Kirk Herbstreit walks back into Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday night for Florida State-Miami. He’ll be in the booth calling the game with Chris Fowler and Holly Rowe. College GameDay won’t be in Tallahassee — that honor goes to Alabama-Vanderbilt — but Herbstreit will be there anyway.
This is his first trip back since poking the hornet’s nest that is Seminole Nation.
December 2023 is when everything changed. That’s when the College Football Playoff committee left undefeated FSU out of the four-team playoff, choosing one-loss Alabama instead. The committee’s reasoning centered on the injury to starting quarterback Jordan Travis, who suffered a season-ending leg injury late in the season.
Herbstreit became the face of that decision, even though he didn’t cast a vote. He was already arguing Alabama over Florida State before Travis got hurt. On Nov. 18, during College GameDay — hours before Travis suffered his injury — Herbstreit made the case that Alabama should be in the playoff field over undefeated Florida State. After the committee made it official in December, he praised the decision.
“You’re comparing an Alabama to Florida State; you have to give Alabama the nod,” Herbstreit said on the selection show. “I think the committee did a great job.”
He had his reasons. Alabama beat Georgia on a neutral field. Georgia was considered the best team in the country. The Seminoles looked shaky with backup Tate Rodemaker, then had to go to third-string freshman Brock Glenn in the ACC Championship Game.
But Florida State was 13-0. They won their conference. They did everything you’re supposed to do, and they still got left out. That’s where the fury came from.
Herbstreit couldn’t let it go, and Florida State fans couldn’t either. In February 2024, three months after the playoff snub, Herbstreit was still fighting with FSU fans on social media.
He eventually called out the “lunatic fringe portion” of Florida State’s fanbase, a term Herbstreit has used on occasion when talking about disgruntled fanbases. Herbstreit rightfully also said he refused to hold it against the Seminoles and their tradition. Then, in March, after another FSU fan took a shot at him — this time about his dogs being his only companions — Herbstreit offered an apology.
“Just want you to know I’m sorry we had a disagreement about teams at the end of the year,” Herbstreit wrote. “I’ve never been a guy that tries to intentionally upset fans with my comments. I’ve always tried to be very professional and respectful to everyone with my thoughts.”
The apology didn’t take.
When College GameDay went to Dublin, Ireland, for Florida State’s season opener against Georgia Tech in August 2024, FSU fans made sure Herbstreit knew how they felt. The booing was relentless. Every time Herbstreit spoke, no matter the topic, the crowd in Dublin drowned him out. Signs appeared calling him a clown. One fan wore a T-shirt with Herbstreit’s face photoshopped with a clown nose.
By December 2024, with the expanded 12-team playoff rolling out, Herbstreit had completely changed his approach. On NFL Sunday Countdown, before that year’s playoff rankings were revealed, Herbstreit made a cameo with Mike Greenberg. When asked about the rankings, he put his hands up.
“After last year, I have learned, I have no opinions about anything,” Herbstreit said. “I think everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets in.”
Herbstreit would go onto reference the eight months of social media punishment that came from the Florida State fanbase.. ESPN’s lead college football analyst was effectively removing himself from the sport’s most important debate. When the final rankings show aired that year, Herbstreit said he had “retired” from analyzing the weekly rankings. He offered half-measure analysis at best, presenting the SMU-Alabama debate as one that could go either way without really taking a stance.
“This isn’t easy, the Committee is going to lose no matter what they do,” Herbstreit said during the rankings unveiling.
Herbstreit returns to a different Florida State than the one that went 13-0 in 2023, but this year’s team is 3-1 and ranked after beating Alabama earlier this season. They’re coming off a loss to Virginia, but the Seminoles are still a good football team.
Miami comes to town undefeated and riding momentum. The rivalry game doesn’t need extra storylines, but it’s getting one anyway. Lee Corso will be in Tallahassee, too. Florida State plans to honor the former GameDay host, who retired earlier this year after nearly four decades. Corso played at FSU in the 1950s. He’s Seminole royalty. He’ll get a warm reception.
Herbstreit won’t.
ESPN’s lead analyst is walking back into hostile territory for a rivalry game on Saturday night. The crowd will be loud. The atmosphere will be intense. And Doak Campbell Stadium will let him know exactly how they feel.
He had to know this day was coming.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.