Kirk Herbstreit is one of those historic Ohio State alumni that college football has ever seen. That’s the reason when he says something, everyone listens very carefully. And now Herbstreit has something to say about Ohio State’s quarterback, Will Howard, following Ohio State’s heartbreaking defeat to Oregon last weekend. It happened when Ohio State fans targeted Will Howard and trolled him. “Will Howard show you why he’s still in college? What a terrible way to end a great game. And leave it to Ryan Day to not know the rules, lol,” an angry fan said. Now an analyst, Courtney, has a message for those fans. Let’s have a look at it.

On the recent episode of The Message Board Geniuses Podcast, host Courtney lashed out at Ohio fans who miserably mocked Will Howard. She said, “Will Howard is my genius of the week…and also, I refuse to call it The Ohio State University, because, let’s be real, that’s stupid. Anyway, down from down one point just inside the Oregon 40 with six seconds left on the clock and you know, everybody thought they were going to try to get a few yards to a field goal to win the game, but we were wrong. Instead, he chose to take off the running slide as a clock at zero, and honestly, it’s going to be one of the dumbest innings to a game that I have witnessed outside of Less Miles is clock management goods.

It happened after Howard faced insane trolls from the fans because of how he let go of the final moment win against Oregon on the final play of the game. Ohio State trailed 31-32 with only six seconds left in the game.

The host then explained, “I do have to shout out to Dan Lanning, though, because he was outside of the system and that was beautiful. The NCAA is now scrambling to make an in-season change to the 12-man penalty, which is so crazy to me because they still can’t even fix the transfer portal or the NIL issues, but that’s a ramp for another. Time, but anyway, Will Howard is my genius of the week,” she said, recalling the last few seconds of the game.

At that moment, Will Howard fielded a snap on third-and-20. After which he looked at receiver Brandon Inniss with the last four seconds left in the game, tucked the pigskin, and then went to scramble mode with the last three seconds. He ran up the middle before sliding to use a timeout. Although he thought he would get enough yardage and make a field goal with some time left in the game, it did not go that way. The clock hit zero. “It sucks,” Howard said after a painful loss. Kirk Herbstreit also shared the same emotion in an appearance with Pat McAfee.

Kirk Herbstreit on Will Howard controversy

Following the Buckeyes losing 32-31 to the Ducks this past weekend has been the most shocking news in the college football world. Kirk Herbstreit, who revealed on a podcast how he has faith in Will Howard, also shared the same emotion on the Pat McAfee show, saying, “By the way, Will Howard is taking sh-t from Ohio State fans. Again, it’s that vocal 10-12, 15 percent. They’re an embarrassment to the fanbase. So Howard took off and scrambled there. Time got away from him. He’s an amazing kid.”

Furthermore, Herbstreit talked about Howard’s game, saying, “I thought he played pretty well, considering the environment he played in. Howard will have another opportunity, another chance to play? I thought so far, he’s playing really well. Doing a really good job of playing quarterback for Ohio State.” 

It’s interesting to learn that Herbstreit is not afraid to poke his own people and fanbase. It’s difficult when you are calling out a general fanbase, but here, Herbstreit has lived and played in front of those people. His deep ties to this program allow him to speak his mind.