Kirk Herbstreit calls for college football programs to ‘stop chasing craziness’ amid Indiana’s CFP run

ESPN announcer Kirk Herbstreit has issued a passionate plea to college football programs about prioritizing building a team in an era of five-star recruits, NIL and the transfer portal.

Herbstreit was on the call for the first of the College Football Playoff semifinals between the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels and No. 10 Miami Hurricanes, in which the Canes emerged with a 31-27 victory.

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Standing alongside co-announcer Chris Fowler in the broadcasting booth, Herbstreit used his opportunity at the end of an interview with Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter postgame to make his rallying cry.

“I just want to say one thing, in covering these games this year, in the midst of the portal, and the calendar, and all the kind of swirling noise that’s around this sport,” Herbstreit began.

“One thing that I think we’ve been able to witness firsthand- if you’re a coach watching this, or a GM watching this, while you’re chasing five-stars and agents, free agents, and everything you’re dealing with, you’d better build a team.”

“Indiana, they don’t have a lot of five-stars,” Herbstreit explained. “You know what they got? They got a team. This is still a team sport. And it’s about winning games.

“Did you hear Miami when they got up on (the stage)? Jakobe Thomas; I mean, he almost had tears in his eyes talking about, ‘I’m going to play for my guys.’”

“Like, if you don’t build that, and you just chase five-stars, you’re never going to be here on that stage.”

“You’d better stop chasing just this craziness, and you’d better step back and say, ‘If those are your demands, get out of here. We’re going to go find guys that want to be a part of this and want to play, because that’s what getting here’,” Herbstreit added.

“That’s what Miami is. That’s what Indiana is. That’s what Ole Miss is. You can do the portal, but you’d better find the right guys that want to play together…You got to find guys that want to play for each other.”

Team success in CFB has shone through amid ‘SEC bias’ claims

It comes as no surprise that many of the elite-level NFL-caliber talent opt to play in the SEC.

With ESPN serving as the SEC’s television partner, the network is hugely incentivized – albeit controversially – to promote them over other conferences in college football.

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The top college athletes, based on their NIL valuations per On3, including Arch Manning and Jeremiah Smith each play in the SEC with the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes, respectively.

The SEC also appears to give players the best chances of competing for a National Championship, with five of the 12-team field for the 2025 College Football Playoff representing the conference.

SEO commissioner Greg Sankey even felt that this was not enough representation, calling for seven teams to be included, though to no avail.

But entering Thursday’s contest between the Rebels and the Canes, Mississippi were the only SEC representative left in the bracket.

The Canes’ – led by Carson Beck who made the switch to Miami from the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2025 transfer portal – victory has ensured that the National Championship game will be an affair between the ACC and the Big 10 conferences.

This comes as the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 5 Oregon Ducks have both emerged from the Big 10 – which has appeared to significantly close the gap to the SEC at the top of the CFB pyramid.

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Indiana, who were ranked as the best team in college football this season, may have Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza under center.

But the Cal transfer was only touted as a two-star or low three-star prospect by recruiting services – now he is highly tipped to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

Even Miami star Carson Beck was only considered a four-star recruit out of high school in the 2020 recruiting class.

Now he has a chance to lift the Canes to their sixth national championship victory in program history in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium.

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