Michigan Football Just Extended a Heartwarmingly Kind Gesture to Former Ohio State Rival

When College Gameday, ESPN's long-running college football pregame show pulled its iconic orange busses into Ann Arbor ahead of an early season top 10 tilt between the home team Michigan Wolverines and the Texas Longhorns, there was one member of the press team that MIchigan Athletics was thinking most about, Ben Herbstreit.

Ben in a dog owned by Gameday panelist and former Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Kirk Herbstreit. Ben recently went viral across the media landscape after he was spotted in the broadcast booth during the Week 1 primetime season opener between Southern California and Louisiana State. Ben has travelled with his dad for some time, but it was a moment during pregame when he interrupted the opening commentary that caught fans' attention.

The Michigan Athletics department was kind and thoughtful enough to issue a press pass to Ben ahead of Kirk Herbstreit's time on campus with the pregame Gameday crew.

Herbstreit thanked Michigan by sharing an image of the press pass for Ben on X, indicating the dog is part of today's 'Working Media' and giving him the title of 'Goodest Boy.' Herbstreit shared:

Thank you to ⁦@UMichFootball⁩ for being such gracious hosts to our guy Ben. This is awesome!

READ MORE: Michigan Fans All Said the Same Thing After Desmond Howard's sons joined 'College Gameday'

Ben has been on the road with his owner as the dog has been dealing with cancer. Herbstreit shared, also on X,

Was diagnosed with leukemia in March and had major surgery in late July to remove 2 masses on his spleen and intestine. Both cancerous. Been a challenging offseason for Ben but he has had an incredible recovery in the last few weeks. Just so thankful he’s feeling better and able to travel with me. Honestly I think being out and seeing people on the road really helps his spirit and gives him something to look forward to. Will keep a very close eye on him and react accordingly. He had a GREAT week 1. Taking it one week at a time.

With Fox having the Michigan game in the noon window, Kirk and Ben will likely be quickly onto a plane after kickoff and on to provide color commentary for a prime time ESPN/ABC telecast.

Gameday is, of course, no stranger to Michigan campuses having made many trips to Ann Arbor and East Lansing over the years and even once to Kalamazoo and Western Michigan during coach PJ Fleck's final year with the Broncos.