Kirk Herbstreit channels his inner Pat McAfee to celebrate another field goal contest kick

Pat McAfee’s field goal contest struck again Saturday, and Kirk Herbstreit’s celebration might have been wilder than the kick itself.

When this week’s contestant nailed the kick during College GameDay in Norman, Herbstreit immediately got in the kid’s face, sized him up, and said the scouting report didn’t have it going through before smacking him on the chest and calling him a “son of a b*tch.”

We did not have Kirk Herbstreit calling this kid a “son of a bitch,” on our scouting report, either. pic.twitter.com/i8IpOkcUIc

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 6, 2025

It’s just the latest example of how McAfee has rubbed off on his GameDay colleagues. The former punter has done more than bring energy to the show; he’s also turned the normally buttoned-up Herbstreit into a more animated version of himself.

We’re not the cursing police or the FCC here. But ESPN has clearly leaned into McAfee’s casual use of profanity, and it has permitted Herbstreit to reveal a side of himself that nobody saw coming a few years ago.

Since McAfee joined GameDay in 2021, the show has gotten way more focused on entertainment and viral moments. Herbstreit has always been willing to get worked up about college football, but now he’s basically trying to keep up with whatever McAfee does.

This is the same Herbstreit who said that he would leave GameDay if McAfee left, noting that the former punter had “changed my experience” and made him “re-evaluate 29 years of my career.”

That re-evaluation apparently included loosening up his on-air persona. The Herbstreit of 2020 would never have celebrated a field goal kick by slapping a college kid on the chest and calling him a son of a b*tch. The Herbstreit of 2025 does it without a second thought.

Herbstreit credits McAfee with renewing his commitment to GameDay after he had been considering leaving the show. He’s adopted McAfee’s more confrontational approach as well, engaging in public spats and criticizing players and programs more frequently than he used to.

And Herbstreit, who could have easily resisted that change or remained the straight man to McAfee’s chaos, has instead embraced it. He’s become more animated, more willing to engage with crowds, and apparently more comfortable dropping the occasional expletive.

The old GameDay was Lee Corso putting on mascot heads while everyone else played it relatively straight. The new GameDay is McAfee getting LSU fans to chant “Suck that Tiger d*ck, b*tch” while Herbstreit laughs and joins in the fun.

Whether this is good or bad depends on what you want from college football coverage. The show is undeniably more entertaining and probably reaches a younger audience that might not have watched the old, more buttoned-up version. McAfee’s personality has clearly energized everyone around him, including Herbstreit.

But there’s something a little weird about watching a 56-year-old former quarterback try to keep up with a 38-year-old former punter’s energy by adopting his language and mannerisms. Herbstreit was already great at what he did. He didn’t need to become discount McAfee to stay relevant.

Then again, maybe this is just who Herbstreit always was, and McAfee permitted him to let his guard down. Either way, ESPN has made its choice about what College GameDay should be, and apparently, that includes Kirk Herbstreit calling college kids sons of b*tches on live TV.