Kirk Herbstreit has spent decades analyzing college football, but an apparent scoring blunder during Notre Dame’s loss to BYU has put the ESPN veteran under fire. New York radio host Dave McDonald questioned how someone with Herbstreit’s experience could misread such a basic game situation.
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During an October 22 episode of the Davey Mac Sports Program, McDonald ripped into Herbstreit, calling him a “cold-hearted dimwit” before launching into a profanity-filled attack on his football knowledge.
“Kirk Herbstreit, you’re a f—ing air-headed bimbo twat!” McDonald ranted. “I f—ing hate you! This is Kirk Herbstreit, who is so stupid, he just likes to hear himself talk… Here’s Notre Dame down by four points against BYU. This is what Kirk Herbstreit says. He basically insinuates that Notre Dame’s not going to kick a field goal. ‘They’re being aggressive. Instead, it looks like they’re going to go for a touchdown.’”
The incident occurred during No. 8 BYU’s 28-24 upset of No. 2 Notre Dame on October 17. The Fighting Irish had erased an 11-point halftime deficit and taken a 24-21 lead before BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier found Walker Lyons for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:47 remaining.
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr then led one final drive. With approximately 34 seconds left and the Irish facing third-and-3 at BYU’s 30-yard line, Herbstreit made a remark that suggested he was surprised by their aggressive approach.
“They’re still thinking of trying to win this thing in regulation,” Herbstreit said.
His broadcast partner, Chris Fowler, quickly clarified the situation.
“Gotta get the end zone, down four,” Fowler said.
A field goal would have left Notre Dame trailing 28-27, making a touchdown the only realistic way to win. While Herbstreit never explicitly suggested kicking a field goal, his comment appeared to overlook the four-point deficit.
McDonald seized on the apparent mistake, asking his co-host Roy a sarcastic question.
“Roy, I know you’re not great at sports, and this is probably a huge mistake to go to you with this question, but do you know how much an NFL field goal is?” he asked.
“Three points,” Roy replied.
McDonald wasn’t the only one criticizing Herbstreit. In an October 18 article titled Kirk Herbstreit bungles the situation with 30 seconds left in Notre Dame-BYU, Awful Announcing suggested the analyst may have briefly mistaken the four-point deficit for a three-point margin.
Fans also mocked the exchange. One sarcastically suggested Notre Dame could have scored two safeties to force overtime, while another questioned whether Herbstreit needed more rest.
Awful Announcing pointed to his demanding schedule as a possible explanation. Herbstreit had appeared on College GameDay in Provo earlier that day before calling the game. He also handles Thursday Night Football for Amazon Prime Video.
As for Notre Dame, Carr completed 27 of 49 passes for 261 yards and drove the Irish to BYU’s seven-yard line with four seconds remaining. His final pass to Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete, sealing the Cougars’ victory.
Herbstreit, a College GameDay fixture since 1996, was technically correct that Notre Dame was trying to win in regulation. Whether he briefly confused the score or simply phrased his observation poorly remains unclear. But McDonald treated the moment as an embarrassing mistake, turning a few seconds of questionable commentary into a personal attack on the veteran broadcaster.