Kirk Herbstreit Thinks Michigan Will 'Wave the White Flag' and Opt Out of Ohio State Game [UPDATE]

Kirk Herbstreit, SEC Championship - Georgia v LSU
Kirk Herbstreit, SEC Championship - Georgia v LSU / Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images
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Kirk Herbstreit had some interesting thoughts on the College Football Playoff rankings show Tuesday night. And, by "interesting" I mean pretty nuts. Herbstreit straight up said he thinks Michigan will find a way to opt out of playing Ohio State and heavily-implied the Wolverines would use COVID-19 as an excuse. But he didn't stop there.

Here's video of it:

Herbstreit claims he's talked to college football coaches around the country who think teams are using COVID concerns as a way to avoid playing good teams. Frankly, that's a crazy accusation and he should probably name names if he's going to make it.

It's worth noting that both of Herbstreit's sons play for Clemson and he's close to the program. So one of the coaches he has talked to is almost certainly Dabo Swinney. We already know Swinney thinks Florida State faked COVID concerns to avoid playing the Tigers. In reality, Clemson traveled to Tallahassee with a symptomatic player who tested positive for the virus. Calling off the game was the safe move.

Herbstreit is obviously buying into this line of thinking, which is pretty ridiculous. The kids and the coaches want to play. If they didn't, they would have opted out of the season. It's completely rational to be concerned about the potential spread of a deadly disease and calling a trivial football game off as a result.

I get that Herbstreit went to Ohio State and isn't a big fan of Michigan, but this is a bit over the top.

UPDATE: Herbstreit later apologized for his comments about Michigan: