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Kirk Herbstreit explains his comments about coach Chris Petersen and Washington
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Washington coach Chris Petersen hasn’t been happy with ESPN lately, calling out the Worldwide Leader for causing the Huskies to have all of their kickoffs at 5 p.m. Pacific time or later.
Then, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said the Huskies should be thanking ESPN on College GameDay on Saturday, which many took as a shot at Petersen and the Pac-12.
However, Herbstreit went on the Brock and Salk Show on Tuesday and discussed his comments, saying he meant no disrespect and was simply saying ESPN is trying to get the Pac-12 more attention (via the Seattle Times):
“They just don’t get the play (attention) that other conferences get. So I’ve taken a sense of pride on ‘GameDay’ and other shows of trying to make sure we as our show try to get the Pac-12, when it deserves to be out there, try to get them out there and get some recognition. So when (Petersen) said that, my mistake was I took that personally as an individual, that I feel like we as a show really try to battle for not only Washington for the whole conference.”
Herbie went on to explain that he believes ESPN airing Washington games, even late at night, only helps to build the Huskies’ brand:
“The greatest thing that happened as far as getting more exposure are those night games because they are on ESPN and because people in the Big Ten and the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12 get a little bit more familiar with the Washington brand and Myles Gaskin or Jake Browning,” he said. “And they get a little more familiar hopefully with Bryce Love and Stanford. Other than just USC.
“It felt like forever it’s just USC is the 8 o’clock (Eastern time) ABC game, and I just thought, ‘Man, this is going to be great’ that ESPN’s going to finally have a relationship with the Pac-12 and they’re going to be able televise some of those games that otherwise are not seen or never even heard of. So when I said something like, ‘They should be thanking ESPN,’ that’s more of as a conference they should be happy to be on ESPN and be able to get the exposure. This was not me backhanding Chris Petersen — ‘how dare you question our authority.’ If you know me and have watched me for 22 years, I’m not that guy. I just don’t do that. I took it more as, ‘Man, Pete, you’re my guy. You should be happy that these games are at night. At least they’re on a big network on ESPN.’”
Naturally, this weekend’s Washington game against Arizona State starts at 7:45 p.m. Pacific time and can be seen on, you guessed it, ESPN.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
