The Texas Longhorns are 7-3, losing to Georgia by 35-10 on Saturday, and shutting their doors to the Playoff. No team has ever entered the College Football Playoffs losing three games. But according to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s logic, Texas still has a chance in the playoff, reigniting the SEC bias claims. And this time, as a fresh criticism came from an insider, Herbstreit pulled a drastic stunt to simply avoid that backlash.

During the Georgia vs Texas post-game discussion, Kirk Herbstreit said, “Three losses, they’re done? I don’t know just quite yet when it comes to the CFP,” and pitched a narrative for Texas, that there is a chance for them to enter the playoff with 9-3, defeating Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Miami Hurricanes’ Sports Writer Timothy Johnson took it to X, calling out the ESPN analyst for being biased toward the SEC. “Kirk Herbstreit spinning the Texas “at large as a 9-3 team” narrative is nasty f***ng work. HOW MUCH IS THE SEC PAYING THIS MAN?????,” Johnson wrote. Following the criticism, the Miami sports writer reported that Kirk Herbstreit has blocked him in an attempt to avoid potential backlash on the accusations.

Previously, too, this issue was hot in January this year, when his ‘SEC-biased’ comments garnered attention. That time, Herbstreit had clearly denied it, claiming his commentary was not driven by conference or team loyalty, but rather ratings and storylines. He had said, “In my 29 years at ESPN, I’ve never been told to promote the SEC or favor any conference,” he said. “No one’s ever said, ‘We have a deal with the SEC, so you need to push them.’ It’s never happened.”

If we take a look at Herbstreit’s logic, Texas has to win the remaining two games against Arkansas and Texas A&M. A win over the No. 3 Aggies could prove the Longhorns as a good team for the CFP committee, only if they had a close loss against Georgia. However, they already have a blowout 35-10 loss against Georgia on Saturday, making it logically impossible.

Besides that, there are a lot of one-loss teams and two-loss teams, who keep the playoff contention tight. Over them, the committee considering the three-loss Longhorns’ strength of schedule and their next two games seems nearly impossible. If Texas still manages to enter the playoffs, they would probably be the first team to do so, but the chances are very minimal.

Kirk Herbstreit Denies SEC Bias on CFP Rankings

Two weeks ago, before the CFP selection committee announced its first Top 25 rankings, SEC hater Danny Kanell of CBS Sports blamed SEC officials for favouring Georgia against Florida. This made Kirk Herbstreit step in to argue against the SEC-bias allegation, trying to be neutral.

“Let me ask you this: the coaches do a poll, the AP does a poll, the CFP rankings do a poll. They all must be guilty of SEC bias?” Herbstreit said, “I went to Ohio State, I was a captain at Ohio State, you don’t think I want to promote the Big Ten? You think it makes me happy to sit there and promote good teams? I’d love the SEC to have three teams in the Top 25 and the Big Ten to have eight. That’d make me happy.”

Herbstreit then took a sweep. “And the coaches who are actually competing on the field, they’re putting the SEC teams in the Top 25. And the NFL in April, when they draft these players from the SEC. Why is this a thing? Why do people think it’s a thing? It’s such bullsh*t. It’s called watching football. That’s what you do.”

While Herbstreit tried to prove CFP rankings are neutral and not SEC-biased, the Texas claim brought him back into the debate. Currently, there are seven SEC teams in the CFP hunt, including Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Texas (as Herbstreit claims). And the Longhorns had to wait for the CFP rankings after Week 12 games to learn their Playoff projection.