ESPN broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit thought he could brush off questions about politician Ted Cruz visiting the College GameDay set. He was dead wrong. Speaking to reporters on Friday, September 18, the longtime college football analyst tried to play neutral after Texas Senator Ted Cruz got nearly 10 minutes of airtime during last Saturday’s broadcast in Austin.
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The decision sparked instant anger across sports media. While host Rece Davis handled the actual interview, Herbstreit’s attempt to wash his hands of the political drama only added fuel to the fire.
“I don’t really get into politics,” Kirk Herbstreit said, via Mississippi Today. “I’m kind of an independent guy right down the middle of the fairway. I’m for America, so whoever helps us as a country, I’m for… I don’t know anything about his political views. I don’t know what he’s for or against.”
Kirk Herbstreit also added that he had been surprised by the sustained booing in Austin and had to ask others what was going on. That explanation did not travel well through the college football media.
“You cannot have a sitting U.S. senator on to talk a hot button political issue and then say, ‘but I don’t do politics,’” CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah posted. “That is totally moronic.”
Yahoo Sports reporters also unloaded on the response.
“Congrats to Kirk for being as full of s— as any human being has ever been in a 90-second clip,” Dan Wolken posted. “Nearly every word of this is completely disingenuous.”
“Not a word of this was truthful,” Steven Godfrey also unloaded. “You can scroll his follows and see how much he doesn’t follow politics. Just say it with your chest, man.”
FOIAball’s David Covucci went further, resurfacing posts Kirk Herbstreit made about Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“kirk i think you know exactly what ted cruz’s deal is,” he wrote.
That old digital trail is where the controversy gets awkward. In one 2016 post, Kirk Herbstreit wrote that he was open to the presidential candidates but added that he did not like the “vibe” of Ted Cruz.
“Is it possible for Ted Cruz to talk REAL?” he wrote in another 2016 post. “Literally every sentence sounds political. Like he’s practiced each line 20 times.”
Those posts do not establish what Kirk Herbstreit thinks about Ted Cruz today. They do, however, provide a documented reason for critics to question Friday’s claim that he knew nothing about the senator’s political views.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding Ted Cruz began when he appeared on College GameDay on Sept. 12 to promote the Protect College Sports Act, legislation he introduced with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell. The proposal seeks a federal framework for college athletics, including rules involving NIL, transfers, and eligibility. Cruz argued that Congress needs to address the legal and financial disorder surrounding the modern college sports system.
The outrage went way deeper than typical political posturing. Critics pointed out that Cruz’s bill wants to set hard caps on how much money student-athletes can earn from NIL deals, while giving power back to the NCAA through antitrust shields.
By giving Cruz ten minutes of soft, uninterrupted airtime on prime Saturday morning television, sports media writers argued ESPN effectively handed a politician free lobbying power for a controversial law, all while the athletes affected had no voice on set.
The Austin crowd was hardly receptive. Boos repeatedly drowned out the senator. The segment quickly became a story separate from the Texas-Ohio State game itself. The backlash was not simply about Ted Cruz appearing on the program. Critics also questioned why a political figure was given a national sports audience to make the case for legislation while viewers were not given an opposing voice in the same conversation.
Kirk Herbstreit defended the appearance by saying the show was trying to understand the chaos around college sports rather than take a political side. He also pointed to Nick Saban, who has publicly supported the legislation, as someone whose involvement influenced his view of the bill.
For ESPN, Herbstreit’s dodge hits right at the heart of the network’s editorial credibility. ESPN’s official guidelines mandate that whenever sports and politics cross paths, coverage must stay balanced and avoid giving political figures a free pass.
As the top face of the broadcast, Kirk Herbstreit claiming he didn’t know Cruz’s politics lets the network off the hook for bypassing its own journalistic checks, making it look like ESPN is willing to break its rules for political access.
His explanation did not, however, settle the question asked on Friday. How could one of ESPN’s most recognizable college football voices be so unfamiliar with the politics of one of the country’s most prominent senators?