Kirk Herbstreit went a little overboard on Saturday’s “ESPN College GameDay” telecast, prompting many fans to make the same joke.
During the show’s traditional pregame kicking challenge with a student, Herbstreit playfully referred to one of the students as a “son of a b—h.” That language is a little strong for ESPN’s flagship college football show, and unlike what happened to Herbstreit earlier in the week, it definitely was not a hot mic moment.
We did not have Kirk Herbstreit calling this kid a "son of a bitch," on our scouting report, either. pic.twitter.com/i8IpOkcUIc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 6, 2025
The incident prompted many people to joke that Herbstreit has been spending too much time around flamboyant co-host Pat McAfee, or that this was part of ESPN’s strategy to compete with FOX’s Barstool Sports partnership.
Pat is rubbing off on him. Pretty soon the whole crew is gonna be out funneling beers and dropping F bombs
— Jeremy (@Jer_3_W) September 6, 2025
McAfee been rubbing off on him the past year or so. He starting to give less f*cks everyday.
— Buckeye HQ (@RealisticBuck) September 6, 2025
He saw Fox go get barstool and said we gotta compete.
— Big Easy Bets🎙 (@BigEasyBets) September 6, 2025
McAfee is no stranger to accidentally crossing the line with his language on live television. Then again, neither is Nick Saban, so perhaps this is just Herbstreit’s way of catching up to his colleagues.
Herbstreit has been on “College GameDay” since 1996. His job security is as good as it gets, so he hardly has to worry about any consequences for this sort of thing.
