Kirk Herbstreit is STILL Trying to Kill the Big 12; Even After Big 12 Outshines the SEC on Draft Night

Kirk Herbstreit is still trying to kill the Big 12, and his latest ESPN comments after the NFL Draft are only adding fuel to the fire. In this video, I break down why the Big 12’s first round was a huge statement, how the conference stacked up with the SEC, and why ESPN still seems reluctant to give the league its due.

The Big 12 finished with six first-round NFL Draft picks, including three in the top 10, and had a night that challenged the usual SEC-dominated narrative. I also react to Herbstreit leaving the Big 12 out of a key conversation on ESPN, explain why that matters, and what it says about the way the conference is viewed heading into 2026.

If you’re a Big 12 fan frustrated with ESPN bias, conference disrespect, and the constant SEC-first narrative, this is the video for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Check one two three check check. Three, two, and one. Why is Kirk Herbstreet still trying to kill the Big Twelve on a night when the Big Twelve performed really well in the first round of the NFL draft and had arguably a better night than the big, bad, mighty SEC? 3-2 and one. Why is Kirk Herbstreet still trying to kill the Big 12? On a night when the Big 12 had an awesome first round of the NFL draft, arguably a better night than the big, bad, mighty SEC, Kirk Herbstreet still had to rain on the parade. I'll play it for you. I'll play the clip and uh show you how the Big 12 arguably won up to the SEC in the first round of the NFL draft and explain what it says about where college football is going. Welcome into the Open for Business Big 12 podcast. I'm your host, John Kurtz. It's where the Big 12 just means more, and that seems appropriate today. The NFL draft is where the Big 12 usually has to fight a pretty stupid and bad narrative battle because now that Texas and Oklahoma are gone, plus all the Pac-12 schools have been siphoned off to the Big Ten, there are so many teams and so many talent-producing teams stockpiled in those two conferences. By the end of the day, at the NFL draft, the end of day three, the numbers do look stark, and the Big 12 has to fight this, you know, do you belong thing? The ACC too. But the first round is usually a part of that as well. And last night, this was not one that was dominated by the SEC. This was a humbling, humbling night for the SEC. Let's start with where the Big 12 is at here, because it was almost at the exact same place as the SEC last night. Uh, I said the other day I was expecting three to four first-round draft picks for the Big 12. How about six? How about six, a full six? And for some historical context here for the Big 12, second time in the last 17 years that the Big 12 has had at least six first-round draft picks. The other was 2023, but before that, you've got to go back to the Sam Bradford Des Bryant draft of 2010. Okay. So it's been a minute. It has been a hot minute since the Big 12 has done this or at least done it multiple times. Uh the other piece of this that's really important is that the Big 12 gets killed for not having top-end talent, right? Not having top-end teams and top-end talent. Maybe there's a lot of depth and there are good teams, but not great teams and great talent. Okay, well, we've already made the point about the first round here. The Big 12 had six first round draft picks, the SEC only had seven. And if we're talking about top 10 picks, so not even just top of the draft, but top of the top of the draft. Top of the first round, top 10 picks, the Big 12 had three times as many in the top 10 as the Big 12. The Big 12 had three, the SEC had one. I say the Big Ten, the SEC. Big 12 had three times as many top 10 picks as the SEC did. Three to one. Texas Tech David Bailey at number two to the Jets. Defensive end, the edge. Uh Jordan Tyson, receiver from Arizona State, goes at number eight to the Saints. Utah offensive tackle, Spencer Fano at number nine to the Browns. Three in the top nine, even. It's not just the top 10, but the top nine. Uh my Kansas City Chiefs were the only team to take an SEC player in the top 10 of the NFL draft. So let's change some of these narratives a bit here, right? Here's the Big 12 competing with the biggest of big boys at the top. And even, yes, the Big Ten killed it in the draft. They had 10 first-round draft picks. But up at the tip top, man, it was all about Ohio State. Yes, there's Fernando Mendoza for sure. That counts for a lot. He's the number one pick. After that, it was just all Ohio State. So it was really just Ohio State that the Big 12 was competing with in the top 10 of the draft. Ohio State had three of the first seven for the top 11. And again, the SEC had just one. So you would think the Big 12 having three times as many picks in the top 10 as the SEC would get Kirk Herbstreet's attention. Unfortunately, apparently not. Before we get to Herbstreet's comments, let's look at the first, let's look at the overall picture here. All right. The overall picture. First round draft picks by conference. Big 10, 10, SEC 7, Big 12, and ACC six. So I don't want to leave the ACC out of this either. They're right there. Both the Big 12 and the ACC, right there with the SEC. And then you had a couple of Notre Dame running backs and one pick from uh San Diego State. Snaps a 19-year streak of the SEC having the most first round picks. And it's not just that the Big Ten snapped it here. This is part of why I show you. It's the Big Ten, yeah, moved ahead, and like that should be no surprise. They won the last three national championships. But the ACC and the Big 12 are both nipping at the heels of the SEC. And you combine this now with the fact that the SEC has not made a title game, not even made a title game the last three years. It's becoming increasingly clear how much things have shifted, how much the balance of power has shifted in college football these days because of NIL and the portal. And many people want to ascribe that to just the money in the NIL. It's really, I mean, it's about the free transfers, the portal. You don't have to sit two years at Georgia to go play. You can go play right away and get paid pretty well to do it, yes. You can go play right away at a pretty good school in the ACC or the Big 12 instead of sitting on Kirby Smart's bench for a couple of years, right? So what does our good friend Kirk Herbstreet have to say about all this? I know you're waiting for that. Uh please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. One click really, really helps me. Bunch of you watch, but don't subscribe. It would help a lot if you subscribe to the channel. Thank you, everybody who does that. So Kirk Herbstreet did a live hit on uh ESPN where he is talking about this, okay? Right? It is such a narrative that he did have to talk about it. So let's let's hear that courtesy of Jack Trice Mafia, by the way. Great Twitter account. Thank you, Big 12 fans. You should go follow. Uh but Jack Trice Mafia caught this from Herb Street. Let's listen in.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

The SEC had seven. The ACC had six. That's the first time since 2015. We're in the top 12 and the ACC had more than the SEC. So it's been 10, 11 years since last time the SEC did not have the most players.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Okay. Um did we notice something there, ladies and gentlemen? Did we notice something there? Something that Kirk Herbstreet uh happened to omit. He goes down the list of the Big Ten having 10, the SEC having seven, and then the ACC having six. He leaves out the Big 12. This is such subtle BS that you see all the time. I know that BYU fans are with me on this because this is so similar to the good old playoff graphic, right? Leaving out BYU, showing 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, leaving out 12, which would be BYU on the graphic in the college football playoff discussion, right? The at-large discussion. It's the same thing, just not even allowing you to be a part of the conversation when the numbers dictate that you are a part of the conversation. And look, you can say, all right, it's just, you know, Kirk Herbstream was not deliberately trying to do that. It's not deliberately a slight. Maybe so, but either way, it reveals what he truly thinks about the conference, right? I mean, it's kind of like throwing some liquid courage out there, getting somebody drunk, and you like you see their real thoughts come out. Like you understand the truth. They're not hiding it anymore. That's just like the natural gut instinct there is to not even include the Big 12. Why would I include that? The Big 12 doesn't matter enough to be included there. Apparently, he wasn't paying attention to the top 10 picks of the first round of the NFL draft last night. Like, this is the guy who is supposed to be the steward of the game, right? Like, I'm this is not just me being like Big 12 fan taking cheap shots here. Like Kirk Herbstreet is and has been for like three decades now, in a lot of ways, the face of college football. Certainly for ESPN. He is supposed to be a steward of the game, and he used to be back in the day, but it is just over time shifted to like just a total Big Ten and SEC shill. And that is it. And outside of these big brands, even beyond that, it's like just the big brands, and it just does not care about anything else in college football. And it is, it is really sad, man. This is the worldwide leader, and it's by the way, a Big 12 TV partner here. Like Brett Yormark, I would be getting on the horn here. Like, what the hell is this? This is it's it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous from Herb Street. And I'm just I'm done. You know, I mean, I've been done, but I'm done listening to any kind of defense of it. It's just very clear what's going on here. He's made it clear how he feels about it and where the sport is. It's infuriating, but I guess you take solace here. I will say this: you take solace here in the fact that things are changing. The Big 12 had a great first round this year with no help from Texas or Oklahoma for all the talk of Texas Tech, right? Being the oh, Texas Tech just buys a roster, whatever. Well, one of those picks was from Texas Tech in the first round last night, but it was other schools helping out too. It was other schools helping out too. In fact, big night for the old school Pac-12, but Arizona State and Utah obviously churned out a bunch of talent there. And there were tweets going around about next year's quarterback draft. Drew Mestemaker, Brendan Sorsby were in that conversation. Like the Big 12's not going anywhere. So, like I Herb Street's gonna have to deal with it next year, too, whether he likes it or not. All right, so this is a bit infuriating. Will you be infuriated to find out what ESPN thinks of the 2026 Big 12 football conference? Click here to find out.