Ryan Leaf, Kirk Herbstreit Engage In Social Media Beef
Lee Corso ruffled some feathers on ESPN's College GameDay Saturday, and some of those feathers belonged to Ryan Leaf.
During the broadcast, Corso referred to the Washington State–Oregon State game as the "no one watches bowl," since they are the two remaining teams in the Pac-12 without a new conference to call home.
And Leaf, who played quarterback for the Washington State Cougars, took that personally.
"And @CollegeGameDay is supposed to be a celebration of #CFB," Leaf posted on X. "Instead, they choose to make it a big joke, and everyone on the panel enables it. Just a bunch of wind socks. #CougsvsEverybody."
Side note: I will now be calling people "wind socks" when I don't like them.
But on Sunday, Longtime GameDay host Kirk Herbstreit came to the defense of his colleague and fired back at Leaf.
"Huh? Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked Ryan," Herbstreit wrote. "Lee's point OBVIOUSLY was-it is 2 teams that have been left out-that haven't found a home yet-NOT the 'no one watches Bowl'. Know you're excited your boys won but DAMN!"
Ryan Leaf Takes Offense to Lee Corso's Comments
And he's not the only one.
Washington State head coach Jake Dickert also had a few words for Corso and the GameDay crew after Saturday's game.
"Coach Corso, he's at the point now where they give him the sheet, he reads off of it, and they try to make a joke, but it didn't even make sense," Dickert said.
Dickert has long been critical of the changing landscape of college football — often wondering aloud if big money might be ruining the sport completely. And he reiterated those feelings Saturday.
"It's well-documented what ESPN has done to try to get our league to where it's at," Dickert said. "I would love to have a conversation with Coach Corso about the value that he sees in breaking up the premier West Coast conference. I would love to have a conversation with Coach Corso about how he thinks student-athletes and mental health and flying them all over the country is a positive thing."
It's unlikely 88-year-old Corso is interested in such conversations. Herbstreit seems eager to fight, though. Maybe Dickert could take it up with him.