Dedication to a college football analyst’s beloved friend

college football world sad news was reported on Thursday.

ESPN “College GameDay” analyst Kirk Herbstreit announced on X (formerly Twitter) that his dog Ben has died after a battle with cancer.

“This is really hard to write, but so many of you loved and cared about Ben and I wanted to let you know. Today we found out that the cancer had spread throughout Ben’s organs, and there was nothing we could do – we had to let him. I’ve had dogs all my life, but Ben was alone,” Herbstreit. wrote in his post.

REQUIRED READING: Kirk Herbstreit announces the death of his beloved golden retriever Ben: “We had to let him go”

Thursday news arrived in a few days after Herbstreit provided an update on Ben’s health, stating that he was undergoing treatment for cancer and had lost the use of his back legs.

Ben became a popular figure in college football as he traveled across the country each week to appear on College GameDay and ABC with Herbstreit and Chris Fowler. He also traveled to various NFL cities over the past two years when Herbstreit called “Thursday Night Football” for Amazon Prime with Al Michaels.

The news of Ben’s passing prompted many heartfelt tributes and prayers throughout the college football and sports worlds.

College football reacts to the passing of Ben Dog, Kirk Herbstreit’s dog

Here’s a snippet of reactions and tributes to the news of Kirk Herbstreit’s dog’s death:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘RIP Ben’: The college football world honors Kirk Herbstreit’s beloved dog