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Kirk Herbstreit has spent the last three decades analyzing college football teams and games. He wasn’t on hand for Friday’s Peach Bowl broadcast, but Indiana’s dominant College Football Playoff run still put him back in the spotlight.
Last season, Indiana qualified for the CFP for the first time in program history. Notre Dame eventually defeated the Hoosiers in the first round. Indiana, which earned one of the coveted 12 spots in the playoffs, was met with some criticism, with Herbstreit among those who questioned the selection committee following Indiana’s early postseason exit.
“Next, I hope the committee doesn’t get caught up in what social media and a lot of fringe fans get caught up in … which is wins,” Herbstreit said in December 2024 when asked to share his takeaway from the first-round games.
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Kirk Herbstreit speaks to the media during the 2025 CFP National Championship Media Day at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“They had 11 wins, they must be good.” Who they beat I think is much more important than how many wins you have. It is [an] old school way of approaching it. Indiana has 11 wins and no wins, that doesn’t mean they are a top 12 team. Remember… there is a big difference between ‘deserved’ and ‘best’. What it’s all about is giving us the best 12 teams.”
The Hoosiers have had little trouble getting past either of the two opponents they have faced in the 2025 CFP.
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Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza completed 17 of 20 passes and threw five touchdown passes en route to Indiana’s 56-22 victory over Oregon in the semifinals. After the game, Herbstreit’s earlier criticism of the last Big Ten team standing in the current playoff picture received renewed scrutiny.
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti hoists the George P. Crumbley Trophy after defeating the Oregon Ducks in the 2025 College Football Playoff semifinals of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 9, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
One social media user claimed Herbstreit is “intolerable,” while another suggested the criteria for the former Ohio State quarterback was inconsistent. Others defended Herbstreit, with one X account writing: “He’s generally not wrong.”
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza throws a pass as the Oregon Ducks face the Indiana Hoosiers in the Peach Bowl on January 9, 2026 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Shortly after Miami outlasted Ole Miss in Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl, Herbstreit delivered a blunt recruiting message to the sport’s other coaches.
“One thing that I think we’ve been able to witness firsthand, if you’re a coach who sees this or a GM who sees this, while you’re chasing five-stars and agents, free agents and everything you’re dealing with, it’s still a team sport and it’s about winning games.”
“Indiana, they don’t have a lot of five stars. You know what they have? They have a team,” he told On3.
“If you don’t build it and you’re just chasing five stars, you’re never going to be here on that stage. You better stop chasing this particular craziness, and you better step back and say, ‘If that’s your requirement, get out of here. We’ve got to find guys who want to be a part of this,'” Herbstreit concluded.
Alabama and Oregon — Indiana’s two opponents in this year’s CFP — have been outscored by a combined 69 points. The Hoosiers will face Miami in the national title game on Jan. 19.
