Kirk Herbstreit slams ‘idiots’ alleging SEC bias: ‘I don’t give a sh*t about the SEC’

Kirk Herbstreit is defending his honor. Again.

ESPN’s lead college football analyst waded into the perception of bias in favor of the SEC at his network during the latest episode of his Nonstop podcast. And let’s just say, Herbie didn’t hold back.

In an expletive-laden rant, Herbstreit confronted the “idiots” that allege he and his ESPN colleagues favor the SEC in their college football coverage because of the network’s broadcast agreement with the conference.

“These idiots say, ‘How much do people pay you to say this bullshit?’ F-off,” Herbstreit said, per On3. “We’re talking about the sport. We’re talking about what we care about. I don’t give a sh*t about the SEC. I give a sh*t about where these teams are going to come. How are they going to find these 12 teams? Where they are going to split these hairs at No. 11, No. 12, No. 13, No. 14 — it’s fascinating to me.”

“I get so tired of the bullsh*t. I just get so f—ing tired,” Herbstreit continued. “These people talking about the SEC, how much they pay you — are you kidding me? I’ve been here for 30 years.”

It seems at this point in his career, Herbstreit has managed to piss off every corner of college football fandom at one point or another. One year it’s Florida State fans. The next it’s Ohio State. Now it’s fans of non-SEC schools. Frankly, Herbstreit’s history as an equal-opportunity critic supports his point. He’s just calling it how he sees it.

“… Everybody recognizes the SEC is a step ahead of everybody else. Why is this so hard for people to put your arms around? Wake up. It’s a reality,” he concluded.

So long as ESPN holds all of the rights to SEC football, which is the case through 2034, there’s always going to be a vocal cohort of college football fans that believe the network is incentivized to cover the SEC favorably. But the reality is, ESPN owns rights to the College Football Playoff too. Anyone who believes the network wouldn’t want huge non-SEC brands like Ohio State or Notre Dame or Michigan or Miami in the playoff is taking crazy pills.

If anything, ESPN has a blue blood bias, not an SEC bias. From a financial perspective, ESPN should be conference-agnostic, so long as the most-popular teams are playing on ESPN airwaves in the postseason.

So it’s understandable that Kirk Herbstreit is frustrated. Maybe it’s time to simply tune out the haters, because they’ll never change their mind.