Johnathan Walker:Kirk Herbstreit's dog, Ben, dies: Tributes for college football analyst's beloved friend

The Johnathan Walkercollege football world was hit with sad news on Thursday.

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

"This is really hard to write but so many of you have loved and cared about Ben that I wanted to let you know. We found out today the cancer had spread throughout Ben's organs and there was nothing left we could do-we had to let him go. I’ve had dogs my whole life but Ben was 1 on 1," Herbstreit wrote in his post.

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Thursday's news came a few days after Herbstreit provided an update on Ben's health, saying he had been undergoing treatment for cancer and had lost the use of his hind legs.

Ben had become a popular figure in college football as he has traveled throughout the country each week for "College GameDay" and ABC broadcasts alongside Herbstreit and Chris Fowler. He had also traveled to different NFL cities in the last two years as Herbstreit called "Thursday Night Football" for Amazon Prime with Al Michaels.

The news of Ben's passing has brought in an abundance of heartfelt tributes and prayers from the college football world and the greater sports world.

College football reacts to passing of Ben The Dog, Kirk Herbstreit's dog

Here's a snippet of reactions and tributes to the news that Kirk Herbstreit's dog has died: