Kirk Herbstreit Forced to Eat His Words, Give West Virginia Credit

WVU has been busy proving people like Kirk Herbstreit wrong all season. But win over TCU even caused one of college football’s most prominent voices to eat his words.

After going as far as to proclaim “anybody but West Virginia” as he delivered his pick on ESPN’s College GameDay, Herbstreit is now giving the Mountaineers the credit they deserve. Herbstreit revealed WVU as part of his list of the top performing teams of the week.

Here are my top performing TEAMS of Week 5:@OleMissFB @AggieFootball @UKFootball @TexasFootball @WVUfootball @BUFootball @BG_Football pic.twitter.com/cGuNIG1ZIy

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) October 2, 2023

West Virginia’s gritty 24-21 road win over TCU that was achieved despite several players leaving the game with injuries earned the Mountaineers the right to be included, according to Herbstreit. He ranked WVU five out of seven on that list.

Herbstreit also gave WVU head coach Neal Brown his due, placing him among his top performing coaches of the week.

Here are my top performing COACHES of Week 5:

Charlie Weis Jr. @OleMissFB
Liam Coen @UKFootball
Marcus Freeman @NDFootball
Trent Bray @BeaverFootball
Neal Brown @WVUfootball
Jeff Brohm @LouisvilleFB
Scot Loeffler @BG_Football
Jeff Hafley @BCFootball pic.twitter.com/zo1lz7pSKB

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) October 2, 2023

To be somewhat fair to Herbstreit, he was not the only one to doubt West Virginia in yet another matchup as the underdog. Only WVU legend Pat McAfee has consistently picked his Mountaineers to win. Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, Herbstreit and guest picker Ken Jeong all went with the Horned Frogs. Herbstreit was the only one to emphatically say “anybody but West Virginia” though.

‘Anybody But West Virginia’: Kirk Herbstreit During WVU-TCU Picks

We will have to wait a week to see if Herbstreit has learned his lesson. WVU is on a bye week and then will travel to Houston to meet Brown’s predecessor Dana Holgorsen and Houston.