Kirk Herbstreit

Penn State head coach James Franklin talks with ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit before the Ohio State game at Ohio Stadium on Oct. 17, 2015.

(Joe Hermitt | Penn Live photo)

Because Wisconsin and Ohio State have been a regular fixtures in ESPN's college football coverage, Kirk Herbstreit became familiar with Chris Ash.

Whether it was interviewing Ash during production meetings on the eve of the game, or from observing Ash in action when he served as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and Ohio State, Herbstreit came away impressed with Rutgers' rookie head coach.

"Congratulations,'' Herbstreit told NJ Advance Media. "You have a great coach."

Well, we didn't hire him.

But the point was clear nonetheless. Herbstreit has little doubt Ash is ready for the challenge of rebuilding the Rutgers program after studying under Arkansas' Bret Bielema and Ohio State's Urban Meyer.

"He's really good,'' Herbstreit said. "It was just a matter of where he was going to go. He's been around a lot of great head coaches. I think he intentionally went to Columbus to learn under Urban and eventually get an opportunity to branch out and become a head coach. He got that chance with Rutgers, and I think it's a great fit.

"He has a good personality, he's a very, very detail-oriented kind of guy. He is a very good coach as far as teaching a secondary and a defense what he expects from them. He's taking the blueprint he's learned along the way, whether it's Bret Bielema's personality and style or Urban Meyer and the success Ohio State has had. He's going to take that and use that at Rutgers.'''

Herbstreit, who will be on the call for Saturday night's clash between USC and Alabama in Arlington, Texas, and for Monday night's battle between Ole Miss and Florida State, is promoting Allstate's plan to highlight the best teams in college football on a weekly basis.

Throughout the season, Herbstreit, on his @KirkHerbstreit Twitter handle and Allstate (@Allstate) will highlight the best team performances and standout moments as they announce the winning recipient of #StreitCred each week.

"It's something we did last year with Allstate and had a really good response from the fans,'' Herbstreit said Tuesday. "I love to engage on Twitter with fans -- 'Hey, what a great play, or did you see this or that?' -- and you can't imagine the dialogue on Twitter that is generated on a Saturday. So Allstate decided to get involved with that dialogue that I have with fans and create this #StreitCred hashtag and it just took off.

"It's me engaging with the fans throughout a football Saturday and by using the hashtag (based) off my last name, it's me reaching out to fans (by) asking which team had the performance of the week. They throw in their two cents on who they think is the most deserving of being recognized. At some point Saturday late, after all the debate and discussion, we'll pick one, and Allstate does a really cool artwork from the game that they played that day. We kind of give a stamp of approval, a #StreitCred over the artwork, and we put it out there.''

The prize for the featured team each week?

"It's bragging rights more than anything else," he said.

The Scarlet Knights will be vying for that honor Saturday, when they travel to face No. 14 Washington in Seattle.

"Everybody is saying all these good things about Washington,'' Herbstreit said. (Rutgers) almost (has) nothing to lose. I think they could get off to a great start with a surprise there.''

An Emmy Award-winning analyst for ESPN's College GameDay and color commentator for college football games on ESPN and ABC, Herbstreit has clearly done his homework on Ash and Co.

"I think they're a sneaky team this year, to be honest,'' he said. "Between 16 starters coming back, including their quarterback, and a new head coach and a new philosophy and an energy, I think they have a chance to be a pain in the butt for teams in the Big Ten this year.''

LISTEN: Episode 1 of NJ.com's Rutgers Football podcast

Rebuilding Rutgers: From The Ashes takes you inside the new football regime. This is the unlikely partnership between Chris Ash and Patrick Hobbs, the two most important people trying to save N.J.'s flagship college football program.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.