I had thought the worst part of Kirk Herbstreit's hectic Saturday double duty — appearing on ESPN's "College GameDay” in the morning and providing commentary for ABC's main football game in the evening — would be the travel.
For the first weekend this season, Herbstreit started out in Blacksburg, Va., for "GameDay,” then hopped on a private jet for a five-hour flight to Berkeley, Calif., arriving just 45 minutes before kickoff for the Tennessee-Cal game.
However, Herbstreit says the worst part is missing the game at the "GameDay” site, including last Saturday's Florida-LSU showdown.
"LSU-Florida turned out to be the game of the year at this point,” Herbstreit says, "and Cal-Oregon a few weeks ago was another game-of-the-year type of atmosphere. Not to be there, that's the toughest part. I can handle the travel and being at two sites at one day. That's just doing something you love.”
Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback, won't have that problem this week when "College GameDay,” 9-11 a.m. Saturday, sets up in Norman as No. 6 OU hosts No. 11 Missouri. With ABC covering a NASCAR race Saturday night, Herbstreit will get half a day off.
"I get to actually stay and watch the game from the sideline,” he said.
"GameDay” will be making its first appearance in Norman in four years — the first time since the 2003 Bedlam game — and Herbstreit expects a large throng of OU fans will show up, many carrying signs.
"The thing that amazes me is somehow, some way it continues to get crazier and crazier as far as the students and the fans and the passion that they have for their teams,” he says of "GameDay,” in its 21st season.
Although colleague Lee Corso has drawn the ire of OU fans in past seasons, Corso and Herbstreit have been on the Sooners' bandwagon all season, both predicting in the preseason that OU would reach the BCS final.
As for the game, Herbstreit says it could be a coming-out party for Missouri and star quarterback Chase Daniel.
"If he has a solid game and Missouri somehow pulls off an upset, Missouri becomes a story and Chase Daniel becomes a Heisman frontrunner. But that's a lot easier said than done.”
