Over the last few years, the football world has gotten very accustomed to seeing how much Kirk Herbstreit travels.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not uncommon to see the football analyst call Thursday Night Football for Prime Video, travel to wherever ESPN\u2019s College GameDay is for Saturday morning, and schlep it to another city to call an ESPN on ABC college football game that evening.<\/p>\n
In fact, Kirk\u2019s travels (and his canine companions) have become fodder for his shows and social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n A few times a year,\u00a0the Saturday schedule is truncated enough that Herbstreit has to leave\u00a0GameDay during the live show to board a plane (or helicopter<\/a>) and arrive in time for the game he\u2019s calling later that day.<\/p>\n That was the case this past Saturday<\/a>, when Herbstreit hoofed it on a motorcycle to leave in Eugene, Oregon, so that he could make it to Dallas, Texas, for the Red River Rivalry showdown between the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns at 3:30 p.m. ET. Not only did Herbie (and Peter) transition from a motorcycle to a jeep to a private jet, but he also continued to provide live commentary along the way. Herbstreit\u2019s analysis was sometimes echo-y or got lost in a choppy signal due to all the movement.<\/p>\n Kirk Herbstreit provided Florida-Texas A&M analysis on \u2018College GameDay\u2019 from a plane. \ud83c\udfc8\ud83d\udcfa\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f\u2708\ufe0f #CFB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/g0IWVuOPFW<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Herbstreit has traveled more than 5,400 miles for his various football responsibilities this week, according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n The whole schtick may have been amusing for some GameDay viewers, but don\u2019t count The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand among them. The sports media insider took to X on Saturday during the segment to send the message that viewers don\u2019t find this kind of content interesting.<\/p>\n Note to all media:.<\/p>\n No one cares about your hard travel!<\/p>\n You cover sports!<\/p>\n No one cares!<\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) October 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Marchand extrapolated on that thought on Monday\u2019s episode<\/a> of Marchand & Meat: Everybody Loves Sports Media. Each week, Marchand and co-host Jon Meterparel offer a What\u2019s Up\/What\u2019s Down segment, and Marchand singled out the Herbstreit travel bit for his What\u2019s Down this week.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody cares about any sports personalities\u2019 travel, especially when they\u2019re going private,\u201d said Marchand. \u201cOn Saturday, Herbstreit is in Oregon, then has the private jet to get him to the Texas-Oklahoma game. They travel him out there. He leaves the show early. Then they have him on the private jet trying to do it. It\u2019s locking up. Every time he talks, it\u2019s like when you talk to somebody on a cell phone. \u2018Can you hear me? Can you hear me?\u2019 That\u2019s not good TV.<\/p>\n \u201cI think ESPN and their execs, they got to ask themselves, Is Kirk Herbstreit the only one who can do this? Would you be better off just having someone else sub in for Herbstreit on GameDay or have someone else do the or make it so it\u2019s logistically makes sense?\u201d<\/p>\n Marchand also noted that ESPN needed to have analyst Andre Ware on call in Dallas as a backup in case Herbstreit couldn\u2019t make it in time (he cut it extremely close in 2024<\/a>).<\/p>\n ESPN and Kirk Herbstreit need figure out a better way on Saturdays.<\/p>\n Disrespectful to Andre Ware, screen freezing \u2026 and it made the show about him instead of college football pic.twitter.com\/Yqk16F7FGO<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) October 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI get it, Andre Ware, former Heisman Trophy winner, is a team guy, but he had to be on hand in case Herbstreit\u2019s plane didn\u2019t get in for the Texas-Oklahoma game,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s totally disrespectful, in my opinion, for Andre Ware to have to be a backup Plan B in case Herbstreit\u2019s private jet can\u2019t get in.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think overall, is it about the show or are you making it about the individual? You\u2019re making more about Herbstreit, and I think you want to make it more the show. You got to pick your poison there. Have them do the game or have them do the pregame show. But when you have them do both and you make the time crunch and you make it all about, will Herbstreit get there? Then you got the dog with it. It\u2019s just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n Given that Pat McAfee\u2019s force of nature persona, as well as Herbstreit and his golden retrievers, have become mainstays of\u00a0College GameDay, Marchand\u2019s question might already be answered.\u00a0We are in ESPN\u2019s superstar era<\/a>, so perhaps dedicating substantial effort to following Kirk Herbstreit across the country is worth it in that respect. The technical difficulties associated with these Herbstreit travel segments certainly undercut some value they provide, but so far, it seems that the Worldwide Leader is happy with his worldwide travel as a segment to build around, even if it creates headaches.<\/p>\n \t