It wasn’t long ago that Kirk Herbstreit apologized to Tennessee fans; now he’s praising them.
The College GameDay star, who had his quote about Volunteers’ fans taken out of context, offered some praise — and then some on Saturday. Herbstreit was recently a guest on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take and doubted that the Volunteers would get a 30 percent share of the crowd at ‘The Shoe’ on Saturday night.
It’s not that Herbstreit was doubting that SEC fans travel in droves, but he’s never seen an opposing fanbase take over Ohio State’s stadium like that before. And if GameDay‘s attendance is any indication, Columbus may be packed to the brim with Volunteers’ supporters.
Herbstreit lauded the fans even before GameDay kicked off on Saturday morning, praising all the orange he saw during an early SportsCenter hit.
“I think it is a great unknown,” Herbstreit said. “I see a lot of Vols fans here… There’s been a lot of talk about Tennessee, the Vol Nation, [invading] Columbus. It’s early; I have no idea what day or time it is, but there’s a lot of orange. I see a lot of orange on an early Saturday morning.
“Usually a visiting team will get 3500 tickets… There’s speculation that there’ll be 20,000, maybe 30,000 Tennessee fans. So, when you ask me what’s the vibe, it’s very different from your traditional home-field advantage Ohio State game. Vols, as you know, travel — and they’re here, ready to roll.”
That was just around 9 a.m. ET.
And a few hours later, Herbstreit was heaping even more praise.
“Honestly, 29th year of doing College GameDay, and this is by far the most fans from the visiting team I’ve ever seen at a College GameDay,” he said. “In 29 years, by far the most visiting fans.”
When Herbstreit isn’t unnerving teams and fanbases, he can be one of college football’s biggest cheerleaders. Just don’t expect Indiana and Florida State fans to agree with that sentiment.
[College GameDay]
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.