College football is back, and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit shared some thoughts on the upcoming season in an interview.
With the beef of the 2017 college football season about to kickoff, we caught up with ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit to ask him a few questions about the upcoming season, as well as his work with an important charity.
Herbstreit has once again teamed up with Allstate to do some great work, with this year being a multifold promotion.
Beginning in Atlanta, Herbstreit will be going “All Hands In”, encouraging the college football community to come together this season and give back to future generations across the country both on and off the field.
“There’s kind of three different aspects of it,” Herbstreit said. “It’s all hands in on the field, off the field and on social . Off the field is where Allstate and I go into a community – this week we’re going to do it in Atlanta – and we have some volunteers from Florida State and Alabama joining us along with some Atlanta Falcons football players.
“We’re going to build a community garden for the Girls and Boys Club to launch the Allstate “All Hands In” program, and kind of show how when college football and the community come together how good things can happen.”
More from College Football News
- Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
- Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
- Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars
- Biggest winners and losers from College Football Week 3
- #10 Alabama football: 3 takeaways from close road win against USF
With important community-building work like that going on off the field, Kirk and Allstate also want to extend the positive energy on the field as well.
“On the field, as I did last year, each week I’ll be picking the Saturday night team of the week which shows the team who came together the strongest on the field.”
The third part of this “All Hands In” idea is an interesting twist, which may throw some fans for a loop.
“The last aspect is the social,” Herbstreit continued. “That’s where I get to engage with some of my followers on Twitter, and I’m asking fans to join in this year. It’s a little bit different. Instead of trash-talking each other, they have to use the hashtag #SweetTalk and try to say something nice about your opponent.”
Getting college football fans to warm up to a rival? That’s no easy task, particularly in today’s social media climate. But, there is a payoff for fans who choose to participate and find some kind words for even their most hated rival.
According to Herbstreit, beginning in October, everybody who gets rid of all the trash talk, and tweets to Herbstreit at @KirkHerbstreit giving a compliment – any compliment – to their opponent using the hashtags #SweetTalk and #Sweepstakes will be entered for a chance to win a trip to the College Football Playoff national championship game.
So say something genuinely nice about your opponent, and you might be headed off to see this year’s national championship game on Jan. 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
That might make buttering up a rival worth the pain.