Kirk Herbstreit says Michigan might ‘waive the white flag’ and use the coronavirus as excuse to opt out of playing Ohio State, later apologizes

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit insinuated that Michigan might use COVID-19 to get out of playing Ohio State. He quickly apologized.

Well, I have to admit, this isn’t something we expected from Kirk Herbstreit, but he’s now doing damage control.

While appearing on ESPN’s College Football Playoff Rankings show, the topic of Ohio State and its road to getting into the Playoff came up. It’s beginning to look more and more like the Buckeyes will be on track to play Michigan State this weekend, and that would then leave the game against Michigan as the last game needed for OSU to play six games and qualify for the Big Ten Championship Game.

Herbstreit channeled his inner Ohio State blood — being a former OSU quarterback and all — and dared to suggest that the Wolverines would use the coronavirus pandemic as a way to duck an ugly outcome against the Buckeyes and opt-out of playing The Game on December 12.

“I still think Michigan waves the white flag, potentially avoids playing Ohio State next week, and then they’ll potentially get a game on the 19th,” Herbstreit said. “Is that fair, David (Pollack, ESPN analyst)? Michigan could opt out basically, of that game, and keep Ohio State out of six games to qualify for the Big Ten championship. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

You can listen to the comments Herbstreit made thanks to it being captured on Twitter by Ryan Glasspiegel.

Say what? Apparently, this is a thing around the country many football coaches and media members believe is happening. Either way though, it’s not a good look for Herbie to make this assertion on national television as an unbiased ambassador for college football.

Because of that, and probably for a lot of pressure he was getting from the ESPN suits because of outside influences, Herbstreit quickly took to Twitter to backtrack on those statements and issue an apology.

“I had no business at all saying that,” Herbstreit said. “I have no evidence of that. It was completely unfair to the University of Michigan, to Jim Harbaugh, to his players and coaches, and I just wanted to apologize.”

“To Michigan, to their fans, especially to Jim Harbaugh, and to those players, I hope everybody is OK regarding the COVID,” Herbstreit continued. “And I hope they’re able to play and get their last to games in, and wish them all the best.”

The apology itself was much longer and seemed sincere. Herbstreit shared it directly to his own Twitter account.

Clearly, Herbie wished he would have never gone down this road, but at least give the guy credit for apologizing. Heck, Buckeye Nation probably would have been just fine if he left those comments to fester and never pulled anything back.

But that’s not who Kirk Herbstreit is.

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