The Notre Dame Fighting Irish kicked off the college football season on Saturday against the Navy Midshipmen. This also meant that former NFL head coach and current NBC analyst Jason Garrett had his season debut in the booth. And it wasn’t exactly the performance from him that fans were hoping for.
Garrett is heading into his second year in the booth for Notre Dame football on NBC. He is typically alongside Jac Collinsworth for Notre Dame on NBC coverage.
However, Collinsworth did not make the trip to Ireland for the game as he was sick and remained stateside for the game. Noah Eagle, the son of Ian Eagle, subbed in for Collinsworth.
https://twitter.com/bobano/status/1695505894354677956
It wasn’t exactly the smoothest performance from Garrett, as there were a number of questionable comments that fans picked up on that raised eyebrows.
One viewer pointed out that Garrett said that Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman had not played with a running back as good as Notre Dame back Audric Estime. This is something that most fans would disagree with when you consider that Hartman once played with current NFL Kenneth Walker III at Wake Forest.
Jason Garrett: “Hartman’s never had a back like Audric Estime”
Sam Hartman literally had Kenneth Walker
— Pregame Empire (@PregameEmpire) August 26, 2023
He also pointed to Navy’s “mental toughness” throughout the broadcast, all while Notre Dame proceeded to thoroughly dominate the game and ultimately win the matchup 42-3.
https://twitter.com/VernFunquist/status/1695522348844163139
There was also a general lack of enthusiasm and energy coming from Garrett, which plenty also picked up on.
Jason Garrett really makes this feel like Week Zero in Dublin. No juice
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) August 26, 2023
Jason Garrett might be AI
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) August 26, 2023
Jason Garrett has been brutal today.
“Navy’s military training makes them mentally tough” he says multiple times as they get their shit kicked in by Notre Dame https://t.co/bjRF2JyD4p
— Brooks (@EBrooksUncut) August 26, 2023
To be fair to Garrett, it is certainly difficult to make the broadcast of a largely non-competitive game feel entertaining. But he will undoubtedly need to be far smoother in the booth to get back into the good graces of most fans after Saturday’s broadcast.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.