Kirk Herbstreit News Emerges on Sunday
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Selection Sunday in college football gave fans lots to discuss after the reveal of the final 12-team bracket for the College Football Playoff. The Indiana Hoosiers claimed the No. 1 seed from the Ohio State Buckeyes after winning the Big Ten Championship Game. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were controversially left out of the bracket, and responded by declining to participate in a bowl game this year.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit was at the center of the network’s coverage all weekend. He featured on “College GameDay” Saturday morning before heading up to the broadcast booth to call the SEC Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs. Then he was part of the ESPN crew that announced the CFP bracket that had Alabama and the Miami Hurricanes getting in over Notre Dame on Sunday.
Once the playoff matchups had been revealed, the next step was for ESPN to announce its broadcaster assignments for each game.
Herbstreit will be headed to Norman for the first CFP quarterfinal between the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners and No. 9 Alabama. The game will kick off from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 19 on ABC.
Updated: Times and network assignments for the @CFBPlayoff. Alabama at Oklahoma on Friday night (Dec. 19) at 8p ET on ESPN & ABC begins CFP play. https://t.co/txZD4VgwYfpic.twitter.com/PulPwjbo2k
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) December 7, 2025
Herbstreit, play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler and sideline reporters Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge make up ESPN’s No. 1 college football broadcast team. Fowler and Herbstreit are also scheduled to call one of the two CFP semifinal games and the CFP National Championship Game, their 12th as a commentary team.
Throughout the season, Herbstreit and Fowler call ESPN’s primetime Saturday game at 8 p.m. The schedule gives Herbstreit enough time to be on “College GameDay” in the morning and then jet to the night game.
The decision to put Herbstreit on a Friday night CFP quarterfinal will allow him the same flexibility to be on “College GameDay” on Saturday, Dec. 20. The location has not yet been announced; last year there was one edition on Friday at Notre Dame and another on Saturday at Ohio State during the CFP quarterfinals.
The crazy thing is..this week was originally Browns at Bengals but we flexed to Broncos at Chargers in LA. Cincy to South Bend to Columbus would have been verrrry nice at week 16 but pumped we got this great game tonight on @NFLonPrime and worth the extra miles 🥱
What an… pic.twitter.com/O6RjWRTgSt— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 19, 2024
He covers a lot of miles, as he is also on the road every week to broadcast Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” NFL game with Al Michaels. The night before the Oklahoma-Alabama game, he will be in the Pacific Northwest to call the Seattle Seahawks against the Los Angeles Rams.
Related: Alabama Makes Embarrassing History in SEC Championship Loss to Georgia
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Dec 8, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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