ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit may very well start the 2025 season off in Clemson, S.C., but that doesn't mean he'll be welcomed with open arms.
Herbstreit has been at the center of much negative attention, especially over the last few weeks. The ESPN analyst — who has typically been known for being impartial and a major voice for all of college football — has been more outspoken than normal.
Herbstreit blasted the College Football Playoff committee after first-round blowouts of Indiana and SMU left many analysts and fans arguing that three-loss SEC teams like Alabama and Ole Miss should've been in as at-large berths. However, fans came back with a vengeance against him once second-round blowouts began to happen, as well as Alabama getting beaten by a 7-5 Michigan team in its bowl game.
Herbstreit recently sat down with On3's Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman to talk about a wide range of topics and one that came up was ESPN's apparent SEC bias.
"We could not have paid for a better final four with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas," Herbstreit said. "The only one missing is Michigan... So this idea we want Alabama, Texas A&M, and Auburn. Are you kidding me?"
Herbstreit doubled-down and took the position that ESPN wants to have the major Big Ten brands and Notre Dame on its programming, while sharing that he believes the accusations of "SEC bias" is ridiculous.
When talking about these "little southern conferences," he didn't name a SEC school, though. Instead, he took an uprovoked shot at Clemson.
"You don't want these small little Clemsons and small little southern schools," he said. "Ratings are big massive Big Ten brands."
.@KirkHerbstreit sets the record straight on ESPN SEC bias:
— On3 (@On3sports) January 7, 2025
"We could not have paid for a better final four with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas. The only one missing is Michigan... So this idea we want Alabama, Texas A&M, and Auburn. Are you kidding me?" pic.twitter.com/xbci8PfrrG
While Herbstreit might have been making the point that massive brands equal massive ratings, he kind of walked straight into the accusations of why people are so quick to smear ESPN for "SEC bias." The network doesn't broadcast as many marquee Big Ten games during the regular season as it does with the SEC, simply because of FOX's contract with the Big Ten, so it stands to reason that ESPN would want to prop up those big SEC brands.
As for Clemson fans, they're not going to take kindly to Herbstreit essentially confirming that ESPN doesn't want to see the Tigers in the semifinals, though some of those national championship runs by Clemson boasted massive ratings back in 2015-2019 and the Tigers still boast good ratings even without the exposure of getting to play on ABC with most of those games now being reserved for the SEC.
Herbstreit may very well start the 2025 season in Clemson as the Tigers will open the season with a home game against LSU. It will be interesting to see how what fan reception is to Herbstreit if he does make the trip to Death Valley.