Kirk Herbstreit is often dubbed the “Mayor of College Football” by Rece Davis and his other colleagues on College GameDay, so when he waxes poetic about the current events affecting the landscape—love him or hate him—people listen.
People listened when he said the Michigan-Ohio State postgame brouhaha was “just classless on both sides.” People also listened when Herbstreit claimed last Saturday that there’s no need for logo celebrations in the sport.
And again, they listened when, on GameDay ahead of conference championship weekend, Herbstreit talked about removing flag planting from the sport altogether and about returning to civility in college football.
“It’s a bad look for the sport what we all watched — and it wasn’t [just] Ohio State-Michigan — it seemed to go on throughout the whole day,” said Herbstreit on Saturday. “I think if you prevent, if you make that a rule that you can’t plant the flag, maybe that’s a start. If the home team in those rivalry games, police get out there and kind of protect that — if that becomes the new thing — then you could maybe do that.”
“It’s a bad look for the sport… I think if you make that a rule where you can’t plant the flag, maybe that’s a start.” – Kirk Herbstreit https://t.co/Tys0ZPT1Pa pic.twitter.com/2XH7FEHbc7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 7, 2024
But Herbstreit wasn’t done there.
To him, the so-called civility that’s been a hallmark of college football for decades has been eroding, and this season has only magnified the problem.
“Think about this season: flag planting, fans throwing bottles on the field, players fighting, players spitting on each other,” said Herbstreit. “Let’s try to return to civility and just sportsmanship… [inaudible] get back to sportsmanship.”
“It’s a bad look for the sport… I think if you make that a rule where you can’t plant the flag, maybe that’s a start.” – Kirk Herbstreit https://t.co/Tys0ZPT1Pa pic.twitter.com/2XH7FEHbc7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 7, 2024
Whether you agree with Herbstreit or not, his call for a return to respect in college football feels like a challenge to the sport—and its fans — to be better.
[College GameDay]
