Kirk Herbstreit suggests ending weekly College Football Playoff rankings show
By David Wasson
Published:
College football means big business to ESPN, a fact made curious following College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s off-the-cuff comments Saturday while talking about the College Football Playoff weekly releases.
The network exclusively televises the weekly CFP ranking releases to much fanfare, and Herbstreit has appeared in the past as a commentator on the weekly machinations of the committee’s rankings but did not do so in 2024 or ’25. Saturday, though, Herbstreit called for the elimination of that show altogether.
“Honestly I think we should remove, with all due respect, the Tuesday night show,” Herbstreit said while standing in front of an oversized screen displaying the CFP rankings heading into championship weekend. “Because truly, until all the data is in – conference championships, head-to-head – then you can look at this fairly. To look at this week by week, I think it sets us up to (question it).
“It is really not supposed to be the real rankings until the season is over.”
One has to wonder if ESPN brass quickly got into Herbstreit’s ear after musing about eliminating a piece of content that surely delivers prime advertising revenue.
The final CFP rankings are set to be released at noon ET Sunday, with first-round games set for Dec. 19-20 at campus sites.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
