We're more than a month into the season now, and by the end of the weekend Kirk Herbstreit will have called eight games. That's not unusual; Herbstreit usually works a heavy game schedule in addition to his College GameDay duties and studio work.
What is unusual is that college football's most visible TV voice has been heard almost as often on NFL games.
Thanks to the NFL moving the Denver Broncos' visit to the New England Patriots from Sunday to Monday, Herbstreit is in line to call his third NFL game through five weeks of the season.
Herbstreit and Chris Fowler called the opener of the ESPN's Week 1 MNF doubleheader, Steelers at Giants. He then called the MNF Week 2 game, manning the ESPN2 Megacast broadcast for Saints at Raiders alongside Rece Davis.
And now Herbstreit and Fowler will be back on the mic for this impromptu MNF doubleheader.
None of this is an accident. ESPN is not forcing Herbstreit to do games against his will.
"I had an absolute ball calling that game [Steelers-Giants] and it made me reflect a little bit differently toward my future and what I might want to do down the road," Herbstreit told The Big Lead. "Like I said, I hope to always do college football. But if NFL would be in my future, I'm a lot more open to that thought than I was maybe prior to that experience."
"Most people in my shoes are just looking to grow and grow, 'one day maybe I'll do the NFL.' I've never had that," Herbstreit said later. "With that being said, I was blown away by how much I enjoyed that game."
Herbstreit said he still loves college football as much as he always has -- "It will probably always be my thing," he said -- but he's become open to calling NFL games on a full-time basis, more so than he's ever been in a 25-year career in front of the camera.
The man has worked in college football for a quarter century now, and called games on a regular basis for 20 years. He's living out a dream life and knows it. But it's also natural to wonder what life on the other side may be like.
It's far too soon to say Herbstreit is leaving college football for the pro game, or even thinking about it. But if he were pressed to choose one over the other, the former Ohio State quarterback may have to stop and think about it, and that's a long way from where he used to be.