The world of college football was hit with sad news on Thursday.

ESPN's “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 that I wanted to let you know. We found out today that the cancer had spread to Ben's organs and there was nothing we could do – we had to let it happen.” “I've had dogs all my life, but Ben was one on one,” 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's news came a few days after Herbstreit provided an update on Ben's health, saying he was being treated for cancer and no longer had the use of his back legs.

Ben had become a popular figure in college football, traveling the country each week for “College GameDay” and ABC broadcasts alongside 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.

News of Ben's death has sparked an outpouring of heartfelt tributes and prayers from the college football world and throughout the sports world.

College football is reacting to the death of Ben The Dog, Kirk Herbstreit's dog

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

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'RIP Ben': College football world honors Kirk Herbstreit's beloved dog