ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit served as host for yesterday's NCAA Football 06 press event, where Desmond Howard was announced as the cover star of the game. During the event, we got to hear Kirk's thoughts about the game itself, his College GameDay colleagues, the toughest places to play in the nation, and college football in general. Check it out:

　　On Lee Corso:

　　"Lee is the same guy off camera as he is on camera; he's out of his mind. He's one of those guys that cannot sit still. He would not be able to sit at this podium; he'd have to be the guy who's pacing back and forth like Lou Holtz. He's got this infectious energy that, for me, has been great. When I broke into TV, I went from being in local radio and TV in Columbus Ohio, right into College Game Day which Craig James had just left. Lee, right away, took me in and taught me. Anybody's who's been in the industry knows; it's not just X's and O's and information; there's some entertainment to it as well. And Lee taught me that on the run and I just kind of learned by watching him because, in my opinion… he's the king of timing and entertainment."

　　NFL vs. College Football

　　"As a fan, I prefer college football over the NFL without any question. The NFL when they get to the playoffs, I get entertained and I get excited because the players seem to all of the sudden seem to turn it up a notch… But when you watch college football, last year when Virginia Tech played USC in late August, I challenge anyone to go to any other sport and find an opening game where there was that much excitement and energy in a stadium. And it's because college football, moreso than any other sport, the regular season matters."

　　"I prefer the college game over the pro game just because there's so much more pageantry, there's so much more emotion in college football. I love the option, I love defending the option; I love the option pass, I love the play action pass."

　　On coming up with the 25 toughest places to play list in NCAA Football 2005:

　　"First I got the list that [the developers] had put together and they were going a little bit more on tradition. You know, you had Notre Dame up there and Michigan up there and there were a lot of schools with great tradition. And I said, 'If I could, I'd like to include my top 25' just because [the College Gameday Crew] have been to every atmosphere and every stadium that's considered a big game. When we go to USC, we don't see USC play Stanford on a down year for Stanford, we go when Cal [is playing] and the whole stadium is electric… so we see the best these teams have to offer. And I started to go through a list and I started with Tennessee and then Florida and then Auburn and LSU and all of the sudden I realize I'm going through the entire SEC… the whole conference sort of represents true football, rabid fans who are out of their mind."

　　"I go on the road and travel and fans come up to me and instead of saying 'Why did you pick this team?' in a real game they'll say 'I can't believe you guys have Florida as the number one team for their fans.'"

　　ON USC

　　"USC is at a whole different level right now… [Pete Carroll's] energy; I've never seen a coach where it's genuine. You know they'll do that fake 'Yeah, everybody get excited' and half the players are like, 'Yeah, how much time until we can get out of here?' But Pete Carroll, it's the most genuine energy I've ever seen and he has fun with it and he makes practice fun, he makes the meetings fun and when they cross out on the practice field it's intense for two or two-and-a-half hours."

　　On the upcoming 2005 college football season:

　　SC's at the top and then I'd say Texas, Michigan, Ohio State. It's going to be one of the more exciting runs this year coming up because there's so much individual talent this season, probably moreso than the last ten years. A lot of guys that could have gone to the NFL came back to the college game which is just going to make a lot of these teams better. USC on paper could have one of the best teams in the history of college football. They have so much talent; they've got a lot of coaching changes but they could be one of the best teams we've ever seen."

　　2005 Heisman hopefuls:

　　"Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush would probably head the list. They kind of take away some of the votes from one another because they're out on the west coast. Adrian Peterson might be the most gifted physical specimen at Oklahoma. Beyond that I think Chris Leak at Florida is a quarterback who could have a great year in the new system… And I think Teddy Ginn at Ohio State; if you watch his explosive ability, legitimately every time he touches the football he's a threat to go seventy or eighty yards. He has Reggie Bush-type of ability and it might be an opportunity to take it to another level because he returns punts, he returns kickoffs. They're just trying to get him on the field any way they can. Drew Tate at Iowa could have a great year. He had that infamous throw as the clock ran out against LSU in the Capital One Bowl last year. It will be a good run, a lot of great individual players."

　　On recording his commentary for the NCAA series:

　　"You have to do the analysis like you're watching the game so you really have to challenge yourself to be excited and animated, especially on certain plays that are big plays. You hear Brad [Nessler, NCAA Football's play-by-play man] and then one of us, whoever is called for, goes and the other guy follows it. You just try to make it sound… like a conversation as opposed to, you know, reading a line. A lot of the time it's just [Lee Corso] and I sitting in director's chairs, each guy has a mic and we're trying to knock out like an hour at a time. The good thing is, Lee and I know each other so well that we can kind of push each other to get excited or when not to get too excited."