Kirk Herbstreit fires back at Ryan Leaf, Jake Dickert over Lee Corso criticism
After Lee Corso called out Washington State–Oregon State during College GameDay, former quarterback Ryan Leaf got in on the fray which elicited a response from Kirk Herbstreit.
In case you missed it, Washington State head coach Jake Dickert was criticial of Corso’s perceived slight when allegedly referring to Saturday’s Pac-12 game as the “no one watches bowl.” But in reality, Corso actually called it the “Nobody Wants Us Bowl” as the only two remaining teams in the decimated Pac-12 following a summer exodus.
Nevertheless, Leaf defended Dickert, and his former school, and took to Twitter to call out the national pregame show.
“And @CollegeGameDay is supposed to be a celebration of #CFB,” Leaf wrote on Twitter. “Instead, they choose to make it a big joke, and everyone on the panel enables it. Just a bunch of wind socks. #CougsvsEverybody.”
That’s when Herbstreit fired back in a quote tweet.
“Huh? Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked Ryan,” Herbstreit wrote. “Lee’s point OBVIOUSLY was-it is 2 teams that have been left out-that haven’t found a home yet-NOT the ‘no one watches Bowl’. Know you’re excited your boys won but DAMN!”
Dickert has been vocal about his team being worthy of Power 5 status and league membership, so the talking from College GameDay threw him for a loop.
“I think nationally, there’s a lot of noise out there,” Dickert said after the win over Oregon State. “I caught something this morning, I was watching GameDay, and Corso comes on and he says ‘The No One Watches Bowl.’ And I don’t really understand that. What’s the merit, once again? Because the facts say people watch the Cougs and the people watch the Cougs more than every team that’s left over in the Big 12.”
Dickert had opened the roughly 90-second point about fighting for a spot while much of the sport passes them over by explaining how much internal care and buy-in there is. From the sound of it, Dickert believes he has a team capable of going toe-to-toe with the best.
Right now, the Cougars are 4-0 and have wins over Wisconsin and Oregon State, among others.
Obviously, Herbstreit came to the defense of Corso, who made the initial comments. Ultimately, it seems to be much ado about nothing. Plus, despite the Pac-12 breaking up, a lot of the attention in college football media was pointed towards the conference.
Yes, Deion Sanders roams the Colorado sidelines, but the conference is heralded for its ranked teams and tremendous quarterback play this season.
And so Dickert, clearly confident in his team in 2023 and program as a whole, was bothered to see Corso, on the flagship pregame show for the sport, dismiss his team.
He more than intimated at how the TV networks — largely ESPN and FOX — have shaped the current wave of conference realignment that stripped the Pac-12 for parts. And Dickert clearly isn’t backing down soon.