No one tells you the ugly side of being an analyst, and it has nothing to do with football. When you are covering multiple matchups, travelling blues creep in. As the week unfolds, Kirk Herbstreit is set to travel more than 2000 miles in just two days. But at the end of the day, it’s all worth it, isn’t it?

“I am calling it (Fiesta Bowl),” Kirk Herbstreit shares with Joey Galloway. “And then flying over to Atlanta, doing game day. I’m going to stand on the sidelines and watch Indiana vs Oregon.

“And then I’m going to fly to Chicago for our Thursday night playoff game – the Bears and the Packers. I get to call that one on Saturday night with Al Michaels and Kaylee (Hartung) on our team.”

While the football calendar faces an intense upcoming stretch, Kirk Herbstreit is also on a personal 2,560-mile grind. He is staring down at a demanding week, appearing at three football venues in just two days. On Thursday, he will make his appearance in Glendale, Arizona, for Ole Miss vs Miami. Followed by which he will travel to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on January 10. Later that day, he will fly over to Chicago for the Packers vs Bears’ playoffs (NFL).

For Kirk Herbstreit, the gridiron is in his DNA. From playing QB at Ohio State to breaking down plays as an analyst, he made his journey. But when you love the ball to your heart, it also comes with a price. “This week’s gonna be wild, as far as prep,” the ESPN analyst admitted, revealing that calling plays in the booth is no cake walk.

With a messed-up sleep schedule, red-eye flights become mundane, and sleep deprivation kicks in when you need that adrenaline the most. The ESPN analyst is no immune to that either.

“I fell asleep yesterday at like four o’clock. I was in the chair. Then I went to bed; I just shut her down at like, seven o’clock, watching the game,” he adds laughingly as he mimicked nodding off to sleep. “I know seven o’clock, and I was trying to stay up for that Pittsburgh game.”

Despite that, the love for the game makes it worth it. Not that this is the first time, the ESPN analyst has a hectic work schedule laid out before him. Back in September, the 56-year-old travelled 4,200 miles in four days. That’s too much to travel, But as he puts it, it’s a mindset thing. Once you get into that zone, it becomes a part of your routine.

“It’s almost like a mindset thing. If I did this in March, I probably would struggle,” Herbstreit told Men’s Journal exclusively about his travel routine. “But when you just kind of shift a mindset into travel mode, it’s the expectation. You just do it. I’m not going to complain.

“The fact I get to do what I do for a living, I’m a pretty fortunate person. I’m not going to complain about the travel.”

His fluffy companion, Peter, who accompanies him on every work trip, makes it all easy for him to slip into that productive zone.

However, that being said, his hectic schedule has also put him on the receiving end of loads of criticism.

Kirk Herbstreit faced heavy scrutiny after a hectic schedule

The 56-year-old analyst reportedly bags $18 million (approx.) combined on his respective contracts with ESPN and Amazon. With such a paycheck, a demanding schedule is the least to expect. However, in October, things took a turn for the worse.

At the Oregon vs Indiana regular-season matchup, Kirk Herbstreit appeared on the GameDay panel. However, his attendance was short-lived. Pulling off double-duties, he was scheduled to announce for the Texas vs Oklahoma matchup in Dallas shortly after. While en route to the airport, his travel logistics broke down, and he couldn’t make it to Dallas on time. Meanwhile, ESPN had analyst Andre Ware present in the booth as a backup option, lest Herbstreit’s travel issues persisted. But analysts and pundits were quick to call him out.

“ESPN and Kirk Herbstreit need to figure out a better way on Saturdays,” The Athletics’ Andrew Marchand wrote on X. “Disrespectful to Andre Ware, screen freezing, and it made the show about him instead of college football.”

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As weeks turned into months, that noise quietly faded away. The football fraternity came in his support, appreciating his work ethic.

Now, the analyst is back on his grueling road trips- but the one that he absolutely cherishes.