I was with you until you complimented Cowherd. He's a hot take wizard with little solid analysis. He's better than First Take but that's not the bar for quality. He may not be a moron but he definitely plays one on TV. As for Herbstreit, y'all are insane. He's not a massive Ohio State homer. He obviously likes them since he's an alum and started at QB there, but he acts reasonably neutral on air considering he is covering college football. He literally left Ohio because relentless, insane Ohio State fans harassed him constantly for not being sufficiently pro-Ohio State on air.
As for the cesspool comment, yeah I don't like that, but it's overhyped and overplayed. And let's be honest, Belmont sucked donkey balls at the time and honestly could be described as a cesspool. Charlie (while I bring it up because Herbstreit did in his comment please let's avoid relitigating any of this saga) did get fucked by the cesspool in Belmont a bit and he definitely never had the full backing of the boosters (not saying that excuses or explains his putrid performance in while because it definitely does not as there really isn't an excuse for losing to that shit Kansas team nor for many of the other coaching miscues). Did Herbs go to far in his commentary there? Of course. There's no doubt he talked shit because he was mad at how we treated Charlie and possibly mad about other things as well. He definitely talked beyond his knowledge there and he was wrong because of it, but him and Fowler are still the best in the business in terms of commentary and he's probably the best talking head (low bar, I know).
As for today's comments? He's right that the a Texas A&M defense looks good. The issue is he thinks it is good because of that. The reason it looks good is because it hasn't faced a high powered air attack outside of Bama and outside of Clemson and Bama have only played terrible QBs. The only way the statement Texas A&M plays big boy defense is true is if you take it to mean good at stopping one dimensional runs. Luckily for A&M they have no chances to be exposed by a decent team with a great aerial attack until bowl season. My bet? They go 9-3, only losing to LSU over the rest of the season.