‘Their Plan Is Working To Perfection’

Kirk Herbstreit is probably the most recognizable voice in college football these days.

The 55-year-old color commentator has been around for decades as a staple of ESPN’s college football programming. The former Ohio State quarterback has been a key analyst on College Gameday since 1996 and has grown his portfolio over the years as he’s emerged as the top color commentator for ESPN and ABC’s top college football games along with his work during Thursday night games on NFL on Prime.

In other words, when Herbstreit talks football, you take notice. With the college football season near, the hype surrounding the 2025 season is better than ever due to the College Football Playoff and the debut of Arch Manning as the Texas Longhorns’ starting quarterback.

There’s no bigger game on the regular season schedule than when the Longhorns visit Columbus in the season opener to take on the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

The storylines write itself – Manning is entering the season with arguably the most hype of any college football player all time because of his last name, the Buckeyes are the defending champs with a new quarterback (likely Julian Sayin) and the Longhorns are looking for revenge after Ohio State eliminated them from the Colleg Football Playoff last season.

“I thought the Mannings were very intentional with their selection of where Arch, coming out of high school, could have gone to any school in the country,” says Herbstreit in a one-on-one interview. “I thought they were intentional on going to Texas to play for (Steve) Sarkisian, to go to a place where Quinn Ewers was already established. Knew that he’d be able to kind of ease his way in, instead of, like a lot of guys, just thrown right into play.”

The 21-year-old Manning is entering his third season in Austin as a redshirt sophomore. He saw a decent amount of action last season while serving as the backup to Quinn Ewers, starting two games while appearing in a total of 10 of them. In limited action as a starter, Manning went 2-0 while starting games against Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State.

In those two games started, Manning threw four touchdowns (with one rushing touchdown) against two interceptions. For the season, he threw nine touchdowns against two interceptions for a 67.8% completion rate with four total rushing touchdowns.

Kirk Herbstreit On Easing Arch Manning In As Texas Longhorns Starting QB: ‘Their Plan Is Working To Perfection’

As Herbstreit notes, Manning was eased into playing and now enters his third season at Texas with a sizable amount of snaps under his belt. It also doesn’t hurt that one of the strengths of the Longhorns is their defensive unit, which ranked third in the country last season. However, they do feature four new starting offensive linemen in the lineup.

“I think they wanted him to kind of simmer and marinate a bit and then be ready to go in year three,” says Herbstreit of Manning. “I think their plan is working to perfection at this point. If you notice, he’s not all over social media. He’s not all over the NIL space, and that’s all by design and how they’ve gone about it. They know that the Manning name creates unprecedented hype, and they’ve tried to keep that under wraps the best they could.”

Although the Buckeyes are the defending champions, it’s the Longhorns – not Ohio State – that’s considered the favorites to win the national championship. Some of that has to do with the Longhorns’ established core coming off of back-to-back semifinals appearances in the College Football Playoff and a lot of it has to do with the inclusion of Manning, who is considered the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in his first year starting.

“I thought they’ve done an amazing job,” says Herbstreit of how Manning has been handled. “Now they can’t protect it, now it’s out, now it’s here we go. He’s had two years to get himself ready for it, which I’m a fan of. He dabbled last year in enough games where he’s not a complete rookie.

“We have no idea what to expect from him, Herbstreit continues to say of Manning. ”He stepped out, played against Georgia last year. He played in some games where he had to start when Quinn Ewers was down, I think it’s allowed him to kind of know what it takes to run that offensive of Sarkisian.”

Kirk Herbstreit On His Love For Dogs And Why Athletes Lean On Them For Support

As Herbstreit prepares for another season as one of the top football analysts in the game, he’s partnering with Purina Pro Plan to narrate their “Fueled By” video series. The “Fueled By” series” details the special relationships that athletes have with their dogs, with Herbstreit, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and USWNT stars Rose LaVelle and Sophia Smith featured in the series.

Herbstreit is a well-known lover of dogs, as he has four golden retrievers of his own. His most well-known dog, Ben, traveled with him to games. Ben was a certified emotional support dog and traveled with Herbstreit to Austin, Texas when he covered the Longhorns’ game against the Georgia Bulldogs in October of last season.

Ben passed away in November of 2024 due to leukemia.

“Dogs have always been a big part of my life,” says Herbstreit. “Over the last two or three years, I started to travel with with one of my dogs, and it got a lot of attention and and then he passed away suddenly with cancer, and then I took my younger one out. A lot of people saw that. Pro Plan approached me just about building a relationship, a partnership, and then they told me about the Fueled By series, where we’re going to visit with some athletes. It was kind of a natural fit for me with with one dogs and feeding them the right nutrients and the right food.”

Herbstreit interviewed Kittle, LaVelle and Smith for the series and said he had “fun” getting to know the relationship that they have with their dogs and the key role their pets play in providing happiness for them.

“Just to see whenever they they would talk about their dogs, just to see their eyes kind of light up about how they look forward to getting home from the stress of their job and the demands and expectations of their job,” says Herbstreit. “Then they walk into that house, and there’s their best friend waiting for them. I think we can all relate to that.”

The Ohio native details why dogs and pets play such a pivotal role in the well-being of athletes, calling it an “unbreakable bond.”

“Especially athletes, the world that they live in, the scrutiny they deal with, the social media, good and bad – your dog’s not part of that – your dog is just a loving being,” says Herbstreit. “I’ve always had an appreciation for that. Having four sons, all of which now have moved out of the house, and having our dogs, our dogs are basically like our kids. I treat my dogs like family.”

As Herbstreit notes, athletes – with all of the pressure they have to deal with – can go home and unplug with their dogs.

“There’s almost like a, ‘I can unplug and I can just be at home with my friend,’” says Herbstreit. “It’s a friendship that they all talked about, and there’s no, ‘Oh, you won the game. Hey, you lost the game, I’m upset.’ It’s just the same relationship no matter what. That draws them closer because of the stress that they all deal with in their jobs.”