Saturday will be a day of firsts for Florida State football and its fans.
The Seminoles are playing their first overseas game in history in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
It will be also the first time many FSU fans will see ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit up close since 2014, when College GameDay last aired from Tallahassee. The popular pregame show is also headed overseas for the first time for the Week 0 ACC showdown in the Emerald Isle.
Nobody expects to see many high-fives during this reunion as the relationship between FSU faithful and Herbstreit has soured.
While plenty of boos, heckles and creative signage will probably fill the air during the College GameDay broadcast, FSU fans have the perfect opportunity to take the high road, have some Irish fun and display its unbridled passion for the Seminoles.
It’s time to move on.
Let the Warchant send any messages.
“I hope he gets a classy snub,” FSU alum and Tallahassee resident Melvin Pope III said.
Herbstreit, of course, has felt the wrath of FSU faithful on social media since he initially took his stance on the Seminoles being left out of the College Football Playofflast season despite winning the ACC Championship and finishing the regular season 13-0.
Herbstreit was among the first to suggest an undefeated FSU team could and should be left out and it stood little chance in the playoffs without injured quarterback Jordan Travis. Travis was lost for the season when he suffered a lower left leg injury against North Alabama in the team’s regular-season finale at home Nov. 18.
Rewinding even further, Herbstreit also seemed to have the opinion that FSU could have been left out even before the injury to Travis. And there’s another elephant in the room, too. FSU fans and others across conferences have always felt an ESPN bias towards the SEC during the season and CFP selection show.
The days passed by but ….
Herbstreit continued to double-down on his opinion and openly argued with FSU fans on social media. Not even his attempt to smooth things over helped when he called on the college football world to applaud the Seminoles for what they accomplished and repeatedly said he had nothing against FSU.
Michael Alford, FSU’s Vice President and Director of Athletics, told The Tallahassee Democrat he and Herbstreit had a “great” conversation earlier this week. They talked for nearly 45 minutes and each said their peace.
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