Kirk Herbstreit reveals he raised college football ‘concern’ to ESPN that didn’t go down ‘real well’

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has revealed he has an issue with the network.

Herbstreit, who is one of ESPN’s most recognizable faces, having joined the network in 1990, believes there are too many bowl games.

Getty

College football bowls are hugely popular fixtures that exist up and down the country in December.

The biggest are the bowls the top four teams play in, which serve as playoff semifinals.

It’s hosted by the New Year’s Six bowls on a rotating basis (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, Fiesta), with winners advancing to the National Championship.

There are dozens of other bowls for teams not in the playoffs, which serve as a mini-postseason for the teams and provide a chance to still salvage some success.

However, Herbstreit believes that the bowl market is becoming over-saturated because there are too many of them.

ESPN effectively run the bowl season with very few bowl games not taking place on their network.

Herbstreit revealed in the most recent episode of his Nonstop with Kirk and Joey podcast that he raised these concerns to ESPN, something that was not well-received.

“I feel like I said this at a seminar one time,” Herbstreit, who recently revealed he would quit ESPN for one reason, said.

“The back of the room — when you and I sit back there — I’ll raise my hand, pull the button down, pull the mic down, and say, ‘Are we creating too many bowl games?

“Bowl games are supposed to be special. They’re supposed to be a reward for a great year. Do we have to have all these 6-6 teams and like creating these bowl games just because they rate well?

GETTY

Getty

“I feel like we’re oversaturating the bowl season.’ And that didn’t go over real well when I brought that up at the ESPN seminar.”

There are currently more than 40 bowl games involving 82 teams.

Since there are 82 slots to fill, teams with 6-6 records and now even 5-7 records can go to a bowl.

Herbstriet is right to raise the problem since many mediocre teams can go to a bowl, taking away from how special the games are meant to be.

Previously, only the top 20 teams played in a bowl game.

“It used to be what, 15-18 bowls forever?” Herbstreit added.

Getty

“And you basically had to be 8-4 to even have a chance to be in. There were a lot of 8-4 teams that didn’t go to bowl games back in the olden days. And now, (expletive), they’re looking for anybody that has a roster to go to a bowl game.”

Nevertheless, Herbstreit revealed that he will still be watching.

“I’m still a dinosaur. I’m still a guy that if there’s a bowl game on, chances are I’m going to give it every opportunity to chase me away,” Herbstreit said.

“If it’s just bad football or you’re like, ‘Where’s that guy?… What’s the point in watching? This isn’t even the same team that’s playing.’ But there have been a few.

“Like, the Penn State game was great. The Georgia Tech-BYU game. I couldn’t turn that off. That was an amazing game.”

Stay up to date with the latest from college football across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.