Kirk Herbstreit’s hectic race against time finally ended in Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium, where he is covering the high-stakes Oklahoma vs. Tennessee playoff elimination game. After a 4600-mile hustle, the Ohio State alum wasted no time in turning up the heat, but this time it wasn’t on the playbook but on fashion. Interesting, huh? Herbstreit urged officials to call a penalty on Oklahoma’s kicker just for his lousy dressing.

Late in the 2nd quarter, with 1:14 minutes left for halftime, both teams were standing at a 10-all score. Kicker Tate Sandell caught Kirk Herbstreit’s attention as he made a shocking remark on his uniform, saying, “That should be a penalty; dressing like that should be a penalty.” Well, despite going 3 of 3 on field goals, including two from 50-plus yards in the first half, Sandell’s shorts grabbed Kirk Herbstreit’s attention.

But can we blame him? Every time Sandell rolled out on the field, his pants appeared shorter and shorter, which forced Kirk Herbstreit to give him a name called “Daisy Dukes.” Even ESPN play-by-play commentator Chris Fowler commented on him in the broadcast, saying, “He’s got his short shorts on. I guess that’s no longer frowned upon in this sport.”

Well, it’s sure a fun banter between the two, but Oklahoma doesn’t mind it, especially looking at the kind of success Sandell has had. This season he has recorded 17 of 18 field goals, in which 6 of 6 were beyond 50 or more yards. On top of it, his 55-yard kick in the first half made the record for the longest goal at Neyland Stadium. Despite just gaining 99 yards in the first half, three turnovers and Sandell’s consistency kept them going in with a lead of 16-10 at halftime.

That’s right; he first gave the lead to the Sooners in the first half, making a 51-yard field goal with 1 minute remaining in the first half, making it 13-10, and then extended the lead with his 40-yarder to 16-10 before halftime. Since coming in from UTSA, Tate Sandell is turning heads after he led the Roadrunners to an 82.6% average in his first season as a starter, and now after getting to Oklahoma, his success rate has turned to 93.3%.

Well, Brent Venables already saw it coming when he got him into the campus back in April. “What I didn’t know until I met him on his visit was how confident and how tough he was,” Venables said. “He was just built a little bit different—confident, edgy, and very competitive. We felt that if things didn’t go his way, man, this is a kid that’s going to fight.”  And six months later, Sandell is one of the most impactful transfer players in Oklahoma’s squad.

So, now you know why there’s so much hype around him.  Now, with Sandell’s remark Kirk Herbstreit is making headlines for something he didn’t even do.

Kirk Herbstreit facing fans heat

Well, Saturday game night turned into a complete mess when ESPN channels suddenly disappeared from YouTube because of the dispute between Google and The Walt Disney Company. This happened before several important games were lined up, leaving fans furious. And all of their anger went out on Kirk Herbstreit as he was set to appear on ESPN’s College GameDay.

Despite not having any connection with the entire matter, Herbstreit’s name came up constantly because of his ties with ESPN and ABC’s prime-time coverage. Fans started complaining about X tagging him. After which Herbstreit also came out with a solution in which he urged fans to visit a specific site. “YouTube TV customers: go to http://keepmynetworks.com now to get ESPN back so you can watch College GameDay and all of this weekend’s CFB matchups on ESPN and ABC.”

Well, it all started when Disney and Google failed to come up on a similar ground about their new distribution fees before the deadline. And the result? ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned channels went out from YouTube. Later that evening, both Disney and Google made it out that both are continuing to work towards a resolution and will get things aligned for fans soon. Well, let’s hope it happens soon, as Herbstreit had to face the heat all alone.