Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe heard what ESPN colleagues Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler had to say about the Worldwide Leader over the weekend.
During Monday’s installment of “First Take,” Smith and Sharpe addressed comments made Saturday by Herbstreit and Fowler when the pair called Ohio State’s first-round 42-17 win over Tennessee in the College Football Playoff, with former Buckeyes quarterback Herbstreit expanding on the criticism aimed at head coach Ryan Day, stating in part, “‘First Take’ tried to fire him.”
“I say this front of the both of them [Herbstreit and Fowler], stop, stop it,” Smith said Monday, as covered by Awful Announcing. “… Kirk Herbstreit, ‘First Take gotta get him fired.’ That is not true. I did. Not ‘First Take,’ that was me, Stephen A. I’m going to own that. And what did I say specifically, Kirk Herbstreit, because you gotta quote me accurately, my brother, I watch you on ‘College Football GameDay,’ I don’t misquote you. Don’t misquote me.”
Smith then recalled his thoughts about Day from Friday, which included: “If this man gets bounced out of here this weekend, he got to go.”
“What I said was this man Ryan Day, if he doesn’t get a national championship he should go. Even with a 66-10 record I didn’t stutter one bit, I ain’t stuttering now. You get the job at The Ohio State, which you know, Kirk Herbstreit, you’ve got to beat Michigan. This man has lost four years in a row. Three straight to Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore, OK, and then not only did you lose four straight to Michigan, you get to the College Football Playoff and you get bounced out by Tennessee, that’s what I was saying, you can’t lose to Tennessee now. You gotta go handle your business. To their credit, they blew them out.”
Although it remains to be seen how Day and the Buckeyes will fare against top-ranked Oregon in the second round, Smith kept Monday’s conversation centered on the present with Fowler and Herbstreit.
“Mr. Fowler, Mr. Herbstreit, love you guys, appreciate y’all, y’all do a great, great job, you know I love you, Kirk, you know that, but you’ve got to quote me accurately,” Smith said.
Herbstreit called out the “lunatic fringe” during Saturday’s broadcast amid calls for Day’s job by fans following the team’s Nov. 30 loss to unranked rival Michigan.
“The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country. … I don’t know, I’m sure they’ll be happy tonight and be fired up about what the Ohio State team did. But God forbid they lose to Oregon. They may want to fire him again,” Herbstreit said.
Fowler added, “When you hear pundits on this network or other places talk about that with certainty, it’s nonsense, frankly. The public doesn’t pull the trigger and get rid of a coach. The administrators do, and they’re behind him [Day].”
Herbstreit then stated, “’First Take’ tried to fire him. They thought he was done, so I’ll be excited to see what they talk about on Monday after this performance.”
If Herbstreit tuned in, he might have heard Sharpe zero in on his performance.
“I’m gonna be a good teammate. I’m gonna let it slide. Everybody’s at ESPN. Because had you not taken the route you’ve taken, I would’ve lit their asses up,” Sharpe said.
“You know what, guys, congratulations Ohio State, you won the game. But hey, if we’re going to be on the same team, if we’re gonna work for the same network, don’t do that. Kirk, Chris Fowler, I promise you, if you ever mention any platform that I’m on again, and talking about ‘I wonder what they’re going to say as negativity,’ I promise you, ESPN ain’t got enough bosses to keep me off y’all for what I’m going to say.”