White’s plea to fix system likely to fall on deaf ears
AD offers advice for anti-UCF Herbstreit
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, who might have more influence than any college football commentator in the nation, is clearly anti-UCF.
That became fairly obvious last season and it became crystal clear during ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday when Herbstreit went on a rant against UCF’s 20-game winning streak and the Knights’ quest to get into the College Football Playoff.
“This argument needs to stop being just about UCF,” Herbstreit railed. “I’m a big believer that if you play people — like Boise State used to do — you should be rewarded for that. Why are we focusing on just UCF when it comes to the Power 5? Because I think there are other teams out there that are as deserving or more deserving.
“You need to play somebody in order to be rewarded. UCF, you need to not just be worried about being undefeated and trying to get in the top four, you need to look behind you at teams like Utah State, Appalachian State, Fresno State. These teams, on paper … are better than UCF and more deserving than UCF.” Really, Kirk? Seriously? Fresno State, which lost to Minnesota — a team that is winless in the Big Ten and got blown out by previously winless Nebraska on Saturday?
Appalachian State — a Sun Belt team whose biggest accomplishment this season is an overtime
LOSS to Penn State? Utah State — a team that, understandably, has been impressive even though they have one close loss to Michigan State.
The point is this: UCF has a nation-leading 20-game winning streak and that should mean more than other teams losing to Power 5 opponents? UCF blew out the only Power 5 opponent on its schedule in a victory over Pitt earlier this season. It’s not UCF’s fault that the game against their other Power 5 opponent — North Carolina — was canceled by Hurricane Florence.
Of course, Herbstreit is the same analyst last season who felt the need to denigrate UCF athletics director Danny White’s claim that the Knights should be national champions.
Tweeted Herbstreit about UCF after last season: “Just enjoy a magicalincredible year. You’re damaging your own brand by jumping up and down ‘claiming’ a National Championship. Just stop. Your ‘National Champions’ in your own world. And that’s awesome. But the rest of us crowned Bama the champ January 8th.”
Translation: Stay in your lane, UCF. The national championship is reserved only for the privileged, pampered Power 5 leagues.
Herbstreit is one of the most talented, knowledgeable, reputable college football analysts of our generation, but he obviously has lost some credibility with his comments on Saturday. It’s no secret that UCF fans have targeted Herbstreit on Twitter ever since he dismissed the Knights last season and — judging by his comments on Saturday — he obviously has taken the socialmedia criticism personally.
Said UCF coach Josh Heupel when we re-played him Herbstreit’s comments on our Open Mike radio show Monday: “I’m not sure Kirk is real happy with our fan base. He expressed that earlier at our conference meetings. He got hammered pretty good during the offseason.”
Tweeted White on Sunday night in a post directed at Herbstreit and ESPN’s GameDay crew: “No one likes having their accomplishments disrespected. UCF fans are knowledgeable and I applaud them for using social media to have their voices heard.”
Unfortunately, Herbstreit has immense influence and his anti-UCF stance will undoubtedly further damage the Knights’ remote chances of getting into the playoff.
I wrote it last year and I will reiterate it here: It’s a shame that the national media is in lockstep with a blatantly unfair playoff system that segregates the haves and excludes the have-nots. It used to be national sports media heavyweights such as Howard Cosell, Dick Schaap and Red Smith would shine a light on the injustices of sports and use their platform to invoke change. In the days before billion-dollar TV contracts, the national media would actually fight the good fight for the little guys and recite one of the basic rules and roles of journalism: “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Unfortunately, guys like Herbstreit comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted. Instead of calling out the blatant Power 5 prejudice in the College Football Playoff, Herbstreit chooses to denigrate UCF’s accomplishments.
Wouldn’t it be nice if some influential college football analyst — whether it’s Herbstreit, Paul Finebaum, Rece Davis, etc. — stood up for UCF’s cause instead of putting it down?
Said White in his tweet on Sunday directed toward the GameDay crew: “College Football is the only sport in America that is not settled on the field. I heard that our winning streak was met with a comment [by the GameDay crew] of ‘who cares!’ What? Sports should be all about wins and losses and not the brand on a jersey.
“The American Athletic Conference partners with ESPN,” White concluded. “As such, we hope to work with you as partners to fix a broken model. Will you join us?”
Judging by Herbstreit’s comments on Saturday, I think we already know the answer.