Kirk Herbstreit admits ESPN's blue-blood bias, disgustedly dismisses Texas A&M as "small southern school"
One of the most controversial times in recent Texas A&M football history was the CFP selection process in 2020. The Aggies, bearing only one loss at the time while boasting a top-5 win over Florida and double-digit wins in every game but three, looked like the model college football playoff participant.
In fact, Jimbo Fisher took the opportunity following the Aggies' final game of the year to stump for A&M. As he mentioned, no one-loss SEC team had ever been left out of the playoff— even those that didn't participate in the SEC championship game. And with an all-SEC schedule that year, A&M's slate had been tougher than ever.
But a strange thing happened. The CFP committee put in Notre Dame, who had just been waxed by a full-strength Clemson Tigers team, over the Aggies. ND had won at home against Clemson earlier in the year when DJ Uiagalelei had been starting for Dabo Swinney's squad, but once Trevor Lawrence returned, the game between the Irish and Tigers was no contest.
Aggie fans, at that point, cried discrimination— A&M's record recommended the Aggies far more than the Irish's record recommended them. Yet, it was ND who made the playoff— and they were destroyed by Alabama.
In the profit-driven world of college football, it's hard not to become cynical about that kind of thing. Notre Dame was less deserving, but considered by some to be a better TV draw. With that in mind, is it any coincidence that they were put in over the Aggies?
You may say so, but I'd challenge anyone to watch this clip of Kirk Herbstreit and continue in that line of thought.
.@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
To be fair to Kirk, he's talking about this season— not 2024. But the incentives now are the same as they were then. And ESPN— who is, broadly speaking, the taste maker for the sport— according to one of their top analysts for the sport, has much more of an incentive to push these kinds of teams than to promote a team like Texas A&M.
This was obvious among fans who have followed the sport for any amount of time, but it's still jarring to hear an actual analyst say something along these lines. Herbstreit comes right out and says "if you're asking us who we want [in the playoff]— uh, we'll take Ohio State every year, we'll take Notre Dame ev[ery year]..."
That, clearly, includes 2020.
This is not a simple hangup on the past. This is a bleak outlook for the future. The Aggies will not get the benefit of the doubt that other teams have gotten. They will have to scratch and claw for everything.
That may not be news to you, but at least the facade has been dropped.