please don’t Kirk Herbstreit accused ESPN of bias against the Southeastern Conference (SEC), warning that his criticism might provoke a reaction.
For the past twenty years, the SEC has set the standard in college football, consistently winning national championships, often dominating the top 25 rankings, and producing more early-round NFL draft picks than other conferences combined.
This exceptional track record has led to significant media praise for SEC teams, sometimes leading to accusations from fans that College Football Playoff (CFP) voters favor these teams unfairly due to their conference affiliation.
In response, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit expressed frustration with these critics.
On a recent episode of his podcast, which he co-hosts with Joey Galloway, Herbstreit voiced his discontent during a conversation about the latest CFP rankings, where nine SEC teams appeared in the top 25.
“‘Bama could be the fourth, maybe fifth team in the SEC rankings,” Herbstreit remarked. “To those who say, ‘How much are they paying you for this crap?’—it’s about sports. We discuss what we care about. My interest lies in figuring out how they will select these 12 teams. It’s intriguing to me how you differentiate among 11, 12, 13, or even 14. I have no stake in who makes the cut. Enter Miami? Whatever.
You might want to include 6 Group of 5 teams. Do as you see fit. The truth is that everyone knows about the toughness of the SEC based on various ratings and polls. It’s fine if you dislike it; you can poke fun as much as you want. That’s just the nature of sports. You can choose to believe whatever you want, but ultimately, we’re aiming to select the best 12 teams for this competition.”
