Kirk Herbstreit on Jim Harbaugh’s future, Oklahoma’s rebound, Kyle Trask’s Heisman journey

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit on the fate of Jim Harbaugh, the Heisman bid for Kyle Trask, Spencer Rattler’s rebound and the Allstate Good Hands Challenge.

Kirk Herbstreit is teaming up with Allstate for the Good Hands Challenge that will raise money for the general scholarship fund for every video submission of fans playing paper football. Back in the day, I was the Adam Vinatieri of paper football with countless hours spent in school flicking the paper football through my buddies holding up their hands like uprights. That’s the challenge that Herbstreit and Allstate are challenging everyone to take part in between now and Dec. 13 and calling on fans to submit their videos on social media for a chance for Herbie to pick yours as one of his favorites.

“It’s a kind of old school fun,” Herbstreit said of the Allstate Good Hands Challenge in a Zoom interview. Patrick, back in the day, I played all the time. And when they told me about this idea in the middle of quarantine, I thought what a great thing for families and buddies to play paper football, and then to have a chance to flick it and for good cause all Allstate had. And to me what’s neat is for every field goal, that’s going to be filmed and sent in, they’re going to give $10 to the general scholarship funds.

Between now and Dec. 13, just have somebody film your kicks. We’re looking for creativity. We’re looking for distance, the most impressive flick that you can come up with and then just share it on your social media, Instagram, Twitter. The key is you got to not only put the videos, submit your video but also put in #goodhandschallenge. And then if you want, you can try to challenge somebody and add their social hand, their social media handle. I challenged David Pollack and Thomas Rhett already. I’m going to be picking my favorite video and I’ll be posting it myself along with Allstate on our social media sites. So have some fun get creative. And like I said, Allstate will be donating $10 for every video that’s submitted. And they’re going to go all the way up to $150,000 to their general scholarship funds. So a little bit of fun and a chance to provide some help.”

Kirk Herbstreit talks big storylines in college football

Jim Harbaugh is on the hottest seat at Michigan and needed three overtimes to avoid an ugly loss at Rutgers and understands the fans are upset with the state of the program but cautions he may not be the end of the road in Ann Arbor.

“I’d be surprised if he’s in trouble,” Herbstreit said. “I know their fan base is irate with where things are right now. I can’t imagine if they would’ve lost to Rutgers and by the way, when they lined up, I think it was the first overtime. They lined up for a game-winning field goal. I’m just thinking, Oh my gosh, they’re going to lose the Rutgers and the guy ended up hooking it or they’re done. They were able to catch their breath. And as you said, eventually, go on and get it done. And now they got Penn state who’s reeling.

If you go by the odds, they’re looking at three wins on the year and five losses. And on the back end of the previous five years where Jim Harbaugh has not been able to beat Ohio State, he’s losing bowl games. And it’s one thing for guys like you and me to be concerned, but when you have former players that are publicly saying things and not real happy with the program that’s when you realize it’s not just fans complaining and being upset after a tough loss. I have no idea where it’s going or what’s going to happen, but, I am a Jim Harbaugh fan. The guy knows how to coach just for whatever reason, it’s not working right now in Ann Arbor.”

It’s not working out for Harbaugh at Michigan and it’s not working out for James Franklin at Penn State where the Nittany Lions are 0-5 for the first time in program history.

“The offense is struggling,” Herbstreit said. They cannot get things done. They miss journey Brown in the backfield. They’re turning the ball over. Sean Clifford I think is just feeling like he needs to do too much. They’re minus-nine in turnover margin, which is horrendous. They can’t run the ball and I think a program as proud and as consistent as Penn State, when things start going sideways, as a player, you can’t help it, you start pressing and I think that’s what we’ve seen. They lost to Indiana on a controversial finish and followed it up with Ohio State where the game got away from them pretty quickly. And they gave up 35 to Maryland. That was the moment I think all of us thought this isn’t right, something’s going on. We could sit here and make excuses. I know James Franklin is trying not to talk about opt-outs like Michah Parsons, Journey Brown‘s health but I have faith in James Franklin as a coach, just like I had faith in Pat Fitzgerald a year ago when he was 3-9  and everything was going wrong, you knew he’d get it right. And I think James Franklin is the same way. It’s just trying to endure this and, and cope with it on a day-to-day basis as a Penn State player.

Last year we saw Joe Burrow put up monster numbers for LSU en route to winning the Heisman Trophy and a national championship. They were numbers we didn’t think we’d see for several year, but here we are, one year later and Kyle Trask is putting up comparable numbers for the Florida Gators as he looks to win the Heisman this year.

“I think it is [his to lose],” Herbstreit said. “I think with the Heisman trophy, a lot of times, people have almost preconceived thoughts of who should win it. And I think it affects how some of these people vote. I don’t even know if they always watched the games. They just remember what they thought in the preseason. So Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are still in the race, but how can you argue with what Trask is done? You mentioned the numbers of you’re right? If you put Joe Burrow’s numbers on a screen on the left and you put Kyle Trask on the right, believe it or not, you would look at those numbers and see similarities.

I’m with you, I don’t know if we’d ever see another year, the way Burrow executed last year. But I’ll tell you Dan Mullin is a great quarterback coach and a great play-caller. He’s got a young offense coordinator, Brian Johnson, who played at Utah. Who’s a tremendous coach. They’re all in sync. And as you know, they’ve got so many weapons. Kyle Pitts gets all the attention, but he’s throwing to nine or 10 guys every week and it just spread the defense out, puts a lot of pressure on a defense on how to slow them down. So, yeah, I’d put Trask up there. And Mac Jones at Alabama has been really consistent and a guy that also, I think, deserves more attention than he’s receiving.”

Speaking of Heisman candidates, Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler entered the season as a leading candidate but fell off the map after the Sooners dropped to 1-2. However, in recent weeks, they’ve played as well as any team in the nation. You saw them in Bedlam last week, so what do you think is the reason for the turnaround and the way Rattler has been able to overcome his early growing pains?

“This Oklahoma team at this point in the season is a more complete team than the previous three or four teams that had a lot of notoriety with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, and Jalen hurts and a lot of great players, but they were an offensive team trying to overcome their defense,” Herbstreit said. “If you watch Oklahoma right now from where they were early in the year, where they were young in some key areas, not just Rattler at quarterback, but you lose CeeDee Lamb, Kennedy Brooks opts out. Trey Sermon transfers to Ohio State. You’re playing with guys that have never really carried the ball.

Your main guy Rhamondre Stevenson is out with a suspension. He’s now been back for three weeks. He’s 245 pounds. You throw him into that running game, which is what they’re known for, it sets up Rattler off the play action. I think they’re better at receiver. They got like five guys now that they can throw the ball to and their defense. Oh my gosh, night and day from where they’ve been the last few years, give Alex Grinch, their defensive coordinator, all the credit they’ve made that more of an emphasis in recruiting and development and it’s paying off. So you do not want to play Oklahoma right now. They’re playing with confidence. As I said, I think they’re a better football team right now getting into November into December. It looks like they may get to the Big 12 Championship, but I don’t think they’re going to get to the playoff, but they’re a fun team to watch.”

“For 15 years, Allstate has been protecting college football for fans,” said Pam Hollander, vice president of consumer marketing for Allstate in a press release. “We know sports – and holiday gatherings – look different this year. As owners of the Allstate Good Hands Nets, a program that donates back to schools’ general scholarship funds every time a field goal is made, we hope the Allstate Good Hands Challenge gives the fans an opportunity to get involved in giving back to deserving students.”

Get the rules at www.goodhandschallenge.com. Follow Allstate on Twitter and Instagram and Herbstreit’s Twitter and Instagram to see if your video is selected.

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