Kirk Herbstreit has spent three decades traveling the country for college football. He has worked with some of the sport’s biggest games, sat through countless College GameDay mornings, and built a career that has made him one of ESPN’s most recognizable voices. Yet these days, fans do not always approach him to talk football.
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“If he’s with me. I have no chance. It’s just that he brings so much more attention, and it’s interesting,” Kirk Herbstreit said in a conversation with The Athletic’s Ira Gorawara on September 1. “70 or 80 percent of people know it’s Peter; 20 percent just see this golden retriever. And they’re just like. ‘Oh my gosh, you know, can I pet your dog?’ I’ve had people cry when they meet him. It’s like I’ve become more of a dog handler.”
Herbstreit joined ESPN in 1995 and became part of College GameDay the following year. The 2026 season marks his 30th year on the Saturday morning show. ESPN is also celebrating GameDay’s 40th season and its 500th road show this year. Peter’s popularity also has some history behind it.
Before Peter, there was Ben. Herbstreit took the golden retriever with him to GameDay and other football events, and fans eventually knew the dog almost as well as they knew him. Ben died in November 2024 after a battle with cancer, ending a routine that had become a big part of Herbstreit’s football life. Peter has since taken over the road-trip duties, but he is doing a little more than just following Herbstreit from stadium to stadium.
Hertz added Peter to its Gold Squad for the 2026 college football season. He even has his own weekly picks segment, “Peter’s Golden Picks.” His first pick will come ahead of LSU-Clemson in Week 1. For Herbstreit, though, the appeal has never seemed to be about turning Peter into a celebrity. Peter is calm, curious, and affectionate, which comes in handy when crowds, cameras, and football fans surround him.
“I think it’s a lot of fun to have him getting the attention and me not getting anything. I kind of prefer that,” Herbstreit said. “If you get to know his personality. His personality matches his looks. He’s just a very, very laid-back, inquisitive, loving two-year-old golden. I’m very lucky that he’s as calm as he is because he gets into some very hectic environments, and he’s very chill, very laid back.”
That may explain why Herbstreit has no problem bringing him along. Ben was the first to become a familiar face during Herbstreit’s football weekends. He started bringing the golden retriever to College GameDay in 2021, and before long, fans knew Ben, too. During the 2023 season, Herbstreit took him along while spending plenty of time on the road as his son Zak dealt with a heart condition. Having Ben with him made those long weekends away from home a little easier.
Herbstreit later shared that Ben had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2024. His health declined quickly. He eventually lost the use of his back legs and stopped eating properly. Herbstreit and his family had to put him down in November 2024. Ben was 10. Then came Peter.
Peter came from the same New Jersey breeder as Ben. He had already been around the family, but after Ben died, Peter became Herbstreit’s new road companion. He did not need much time to settle into the job. Peter showed up at College GameDay in Philadelphia in November 2024. He visited the Rocky Steps, walked around the GameDay set, and eventually met Uga, Georgia’s famous bulldog mascot.
It did not take long for fans to start paying attention to him. And now, Peter is officially a celebrity.