Kirk Herbstreit gets cooked for congratulating Michigan after caping for Alabama

Kirk Herbstreit has been one of the most respected voices in college football for decades. His takes on the College Football Playoff add weight to the quote from The Dark Knight, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

After Indiana lost to Notre Dame in the first round of the CFP, Herbstreit made it very clear what he thought of the selection committee's chosen bracket. He argued they needed to "find the best teams" instead of valuing win totals.

“Indiana was outclassed in that game," Herbstreit said. "It was not a team that should have been on that field when you consider other teams that could have been there."

Anyone with a brain could tell exactly which other teams Herbstreit was referring to, specifically No. 11 Alabama, the first team out. The Crimson Tide had three losses, including two bad upsets to double-digit underdogs, but the perception of their difficult schedule was enough for many beyond Herbstreit to argue they should have been in the field.

That argument was undercut by Alabama's loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. When Herbstreit hit send on a tweet congratulating the Wolverines on their win, he invited college football fans from across the country to clown him.

Kirk Herbstreit's response to criticism only made it worse

It seems Herbstreit didn't anticipate the wave of criticism. He didn't exactly take it well.

A childish response to a fan laughing at him for wanting Alabama in the playoff didn't help. He just fueled more of the fire.

Herbstreit would be better off accepting defeat and taking his lumps. Old Takes Exposed comes for us all one day. Hell, I just got the Freezing Cold Takes experience for a tweet about Kalen DeBoer sent while Alabama was blowing out Georgia.

I still love DeBoer, don't get me wrong, but clearly his first season with the Crimson Tide didn't go the way I expected. That's pretty much the point of all this. We shouldn't expect the CFP to lean on hypotheticals. If you lose three games, you have to accept it when you don't get a chance to play for the national title. If you advocate for a three-loss team to make the playoff and that same team loses their bowl game, you have to accept it when you take a beating on social media.