Do you know who just set the college football world on fire? That’s none other than Ohio State Buckeyes HC Ryan Day. Till now, the Buckeyes fans were split up into two groups. Now it’s time for the analysts to join the fans. Team Ryan Day: Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler. Team Anti-Ryan Day: Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe. Here comes another analyst who had taken a stand for Herbestreit.

But since the analyst has an ex-ESPN tag, surprisingly, he supported Herbstreit, throwing shade at the ‘First Take’s’ hosts. However, there was another big shot from an ex-ESPN who got upset with Sharpe and Smith. 

Former ESPN analyst joins the fray of supporting Kirk Herbstreit

Now, what’s the hoopla all about? Here’s making the long context short. We all know how Day’s HC seat got hotter and hotter with every passing day. His job in Columbus had been hanging by a thread when his buyout figure worth $37.3 million became the talk of the town. Surprisingly, Day was able to save himself and his program from any further face loss after defeating Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers. Among the ones who went to a great extent, demeaning Day were ‘First Take’ hosts Sharpe and Smith. So when Day was able to flip the script, Herbstreit openly attacked, claiming, “The “‘First Take’ tried to fire him. They thought he was done… He’s still coaching.” The words reached Sharpe and Smith, who started to defend themselves.

While Smith claimed to have been misquoted, Sharpe warned Herbstreit, “Don’t play with me.” This obviously did not sit well with the Don’t @ Me! podcast host, Dan Dakich. It was easy for Dakich to feel how sad Herbstreit might have felt. On the OutKick podcast, he said, “Kirk Herbstreit took shots. You can tell Herby was frustrated, angry, disgusted and had simply enough of all of the mo- – -s that he has to work with.” The analyst did not even inch a bit before calling Sharpe “the mumbled mouth sidekick of Stephen A Smith.” Dakich feels that the ‘First Take’ hosts have the audacity to “take unsolicited shots at literally everybody on their shows.” And what does he feel about Smith?

Top Comment by jopihpi1939

He is a good coach. Can’t believe what his critics say. Nobody mentions michigan’s cheating in 2 games & bowing...more

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Dakich made a brutal comment stating, “There isn’t a human being alive that can listen to Stephen Smith for two minutes and and say I want to listen to that yelling screaming fake tough guy.” He seems to be so upset with Smith that took reference to the First Take analyst’s quote as he defended himself, “That was me, Stephen A… don’t misquote me. What I said was, ‘this man Ryan Day, if he doesn’t get a national championship, he should go. Even with a 66-10 record.’ I didn’t stutter one bit, and I’m not stuttering now.” But Dakich is confident that Smith did mumble while commenting on Day.  Amidst this hoopla, Herbstreit gained another supporter.

Unlikely unity for Kirk Herbstreit 

That’s none other than Jason Whitlock. On his YouTube channel, the veteran posted a clip sharing the Fowler-Herbstreit conversation. It was obvious that Whitlock was convinced about the ESPN side of the story. So he said, “There’s a lot of truth in what Kirk Herbstreit and Fowler are pointing out.” After all, Herbstreit and Fowler are still very much on the analyzing front. They are the hosts for College GameDay.

That’s why he made a harsh comment pointing at Sharpe and Smith without taking their name. On his podcast, Whitlock claimed, “People that don’t even watch college football, never talk to the decision-makers in college football, are on ESPN platforms talking about Ryan Day getting fired without any connection to reality.” After all, Whitlock can’t agree with Day being a flop HC. 

As he said, “[He] played quarterback at Ohio State, and is the largest, most impactful voice in college football.” Like Dan Dakich, Jason Whitlock was also part of ESPN at one point in time. However, things ended on a bitter note when the broadcasting platform fired him and replaced him with Leon Carter as the lead editor of the program. Even then, they came together to take a stand for the ESPN man, Kirk Herbstreit.