Many considered Ohio State the most talented team in the country when the season began, but the Buckeyes didn't exactly coast to a national championship.
Written off by some fans after two regular-season losses, Ryan Day's squad enjoyed a storybook ending Monday against Notre Dame after regrouping in December and rolling through the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State's run from down and out after a loss to Michigan to national champions was enough to drive at least one person to tears: ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, who called Monday's game alongside Chris Fowler. Herbstreit and Fowler joined Scott Van Pelt on "SportsCenter" after the Buckeyes' win, and Herbstreit struggled for a moment to keep his composure.
Here's what Herbstreit had to say after Ohio State captured its first national title in 10 years, and why the ESPN commentator was so affected by the Buckeyes' win.
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Kirk Herbstreit gets emotional after Ohio State wins title
Herbstreit was still in his feels when Van Pelt looked his way about 25 minutes after the final whistle blew.
"I'm a little emotional...I'm just fired up for these guys," Herbstreit said, joking that Van Pelt shouldn't have asked him the first question.
"I love all these Ohio State teams," Herbstreit said, "But this team, because of what they went through to get to this point, you're just happy."
Kirk Herbstreit gets emotional on the postgame show.
"When I call these games I'm incredibly objective. I love all of these Ohio State teams, but this team because of what they went through to get to this point, you're just happy." pic.twitter.com/BylD7WBQ3N
To say Herbstreit has close ties to Ohio State might be an understatement. He played for the Buckeyes in the early 1990s, starting as a senior, and his father was both a player and coach with the program. Herbstreit's son, Zak, is a walk-on tight end for Ohio State.
Herbstreit doesn't necessarily hide his connection to Ohio State, but in the same breath as his emotional comments about the team, he insisted he doesn't let his Buckeyes ties influence his work in the broadcast booth.
"When I call these games, I'm incredibly objective," Herbstreit said.
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During the game, Herbstreit heaped praise on his son's coach, Ryan Day, who faced heavy criticism after the Buckeyes' regular-season losses.
"I'm a friend of his, very objective, I try to be as fair as I can be, but I hear the stories behind the curtain, I know what he and his wife and his family had to go through," Herbstreit said of Day. "He's handled it with such class."
"I hear the stories behind the curtain, I know what he and his wife and his family go through. It's really, it's tough. It's tough to be a coach at a premium school where you're expected to win every game. He handled it with such class." - Kirk Herbstreit on Ryan Day getting over… pic.twitter.com/5jbguxPH6r
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 21, 2025It wasn't the first time during Ohio State's playoff run that Herbstreit went out of his way to defend Day. The analyst called out a "lunatic fringe" of Ohio State fans after the Buckeyes knocked off Tennessee in December, also railing against his ESPN colleagues on "First Take" for their criticism of the sixth-year coach.
"The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country," Herbstreit said. "It used to be eight to 10 [percent of the fan base]. I think it's grown now to about 15 to 20."
While Herbstreit's objectivity is up for interpretation, it's clear the hot seat debate surrounding Day is over. The 45-year-old successor to Urban Meyer is a national champion, and that label is a permanent one.