Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler had harsh criticism of Georgia player’s ‘ludicrous’ penalty

Georgia committed six accepted penalties during Saturday night’s loss to Alabama. The last one earned some harsh, but fair, criticism from Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, calling the game on ABC.

Nursing a 24-21 lead late in the game and facing a third-and-one, Alabama called on Ty Simpson for a quarterback sneak. While it looked close, officials gave Simpson the first down. But even if the officials had ruled Simpson short, the Crimson Tide still would have picked up a first down, thanks to a penalty on Georgia’s Ellis Robinson IV.

With multiple players from both teams locked into what amounted to a scrum, Valentine sprinted in from the defense’s right and dove on top of the pile.

“That’s losing your mind,” Fowler said when the penalty was announced.

“At a critical moment in a football game,” Herbstreit added. “What in the world are you thinking here? The play is over, It’s over. Whistles have been — what in the world — this isn’t a practice. What the hell are you thinking? That’s 15 yards you just cost the team.”

“That is just ludicrous,” Fowler said. “That wasn’t late. That was way, way late.”

“This isn’t a practice. What the hell are you thinking?”

“That is just ludicrous. That wasn’t late. That was way late.”

Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler react to Georgia DB Ellis Robinson IV’s unnecessary roughness penalty against Alabama. pic.twitter.com/0DouQJzoCy

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 28, 2025

Alabama picked up one more first down and ran the remainder of the clock out to seal the 24-21. As previously noted, the penalty came after a first down. So, even if the penalty wasn’t committed, had everything else taken place, the Crimson Tide would have still won the game without giving the Bulldogs the ball back. Of course, there’s no way of knowing if anything would have changed.

But even if the penalty had an ultimately harmless impact on the game’s final outcome, Robinson will probably be asked some variation of, “What the hell are you thinking?” a few times in the coming days.