Kirk Herbstreit issued a public apology this week after a social media post following the Army-Navy game sparked backlash across the college football world.
ESPN’s lead college football analyst addressed the situation in a lengthy post on X, acknowledging that a caption attached to a promotional clip from his Nonstop podcast was misleading and poorly worded.
The now-deleted post suggested it felt strange to not have college football on Saturday, which many interpreted as dismissive of Americas Game.
“Some took that out of context and ran with it. That’s on me,” Herbstreit wrote. “My apologies for any disrespect to the teams that played last weekend, especially Army and Navy.”
Just wanted to address a mistake that we made on my socials earlier this week related to last weekends CFB Saturday. We posted a video where @Joey_Galloway and I were talking about how strange it was to be home and not traveling on a CFB weekend since end of August and how we… pic.twitter.com/Vb4k4jeJQS
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 17, 2025
The original clip featured Herbstreit and Joey Galloway discussing the unfamiliar feeling of being home after months of constant travel during the season.
Neither analyst said there were no games being played, but the caption “Saturday not having college football threw us for a loop" quickly drew criticism. Navy Athletics responded by posting the message alongside a photo from Saturday’s game.
Navy defeated Army 17-16 in one of the sport’s most storied rivalries. A matchup that continues to draw massive national attention. The game averaged 7.84 million viewers on CBS.
In his apology, Herbstreit expressed his respect for the rivalry, calling Army-Navy one of his favorite games each year. He said the controversy stemmed from miscommunication, not a lack of appreciation for the event or the broader college football landscape.
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