A shot often heard about certain college football teams is that they’re a “basketball school.” NFL Network analyst Steve Smith Sr. was the guest picker on ESPN College Gameday Saturday, which made sense given that that show was at the Oregon-Utah game and that Smith played for the Utes. But his biggest controversy came when he predicted Clemson to beat NC State, taking some shots at the Tigers but then writing the Wolfpack off as “waiting for basketball to start”:
Steve Smith Sr. earlier on College GameDay:
"Clemson has been struggling. They're not the Clemson that we've loved over the years. But NC State, unfortunately, they're waiting for basketball to start." pic.twitter.com/wIFyev8gxx
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 28, 2023
Well, despite being 9.5-point underdogs, NC State picked up a 24-17 win there. After the game, which was one of the Raycom Sports productions broadcast on The CW, Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren took a shot at Smith in a post-game interview:
Fast-forward to NC State beating Clemson later on Saturday.
NC State head coach Dave Doeren: “Tell Steve Smith in the studio this ain’t a basketball school… he can kiss my ass.” 🔥pic.twitter.com/LV7f1j8N0R
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 28, 2023
Obviously, Doeren’s terminology isn’t quite right there. Smith wasn’t in the studio for this broadcast, and his comment was made as a guest picker on another network entirely. There’s no universal studio (other than the theme parks) where all analysts reside. But it’s still notable to see this comment get to Doeren and to see him respond this way.
This isn’t the first coach feud with comments from GameDay. This year alone, Washington State’s Jake Dickert particularly got mad at the show (although he incorrectly referenced the comment he was discussing), spiraling into a wider argument. And it’s interesting to see that now happen around comments not from a regular panelist, but rather a guest picker. This is also just the latest feud Smith’s been involved with, with his back–and–forths with Denver Broncos’ WR Jerry Jeudy this month getting a lot of attention. We’ll see if anything more comes of this.
UPDATE: Doeren reacted further to Smith’s comments during his post-game presser, saying that people should “do your homework before you start talkin’ ****.”
NC State head coach Dave Doeren on Steve Smith Sr. during the postgame presser: "Do your homework before you start talkin' shit." pic.twitter.com/wlvqfh22ll
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 28, 2023
[Awful Announcing on Twitter]
