Kirk Herbstreit criticizes LSU’s ‘immaturity’ with CFP postgame celebration
By Jake Rill
Published:
Kirk Herbstreit wasn’t impressed with LSU on Monday night.
It wasn’t about the way the Tigers played in the College Football Playoff National Championship — which they won to claim the national title — but rather the way they celebrated and acted following the game against Clemson. And the ESPN analyst is concerned about how it could impact LSU’s future.
“I thought they showed a little bit of immaturity and kind of not knowing how to handle it with the way they celebrated postgame,” Herbstreit said this week on his podcast. “This thing is about 2020, this is about [head coach Ed Orgeron] building a massive program and trying to become the new sheriff in town in the SEC West. And the way his team reacted, I almost feel like … everyone’s going to the NFL, everybody’s acting like this is the top of the mountain, which it is for this year, but it seems a little bizarre to me.”
Of course, the part of LSU’s celebration garnering the most attention this week came from former Tigers wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. appearing to hand out money to LSU players following the game. Later, there were novelty bills found on the field, so it seemed like Beckham may just have been handing out fake cash.
But LSU quarterback Joe Burrow later confirmed that Beckham was indeed handing out real money.
That was something else that, obviously, didn’t sit well with Herbstreit.
“As much as we’re celebrating this team, I wasn’t a real fan of the postgame stuff, the OBJ stuff with the money, the way they handled themselves at times,” Herbstreit said on his podcast. “If it’s just about 2019, great. But this is about staying power, right? This isn’t the finish line of their program. Don’t they want to win in 2020, don’t they want to win in 2021? I almost feel like it’s all the chips in, we made it, that’s it and forget everything else.”
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
