ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden fired back at Dave Portnoy after the Barstool Sports founder accused her of expressing “glee” while a graphic of Brigham Young’s College Football Playoff chances appeared on the screen next to her.
“You could actually listen to the television where I was talking about their week at practice, and had nothing to do with their chances at the playoffs,” she wrote via X on Saturday, December 6, quoting his original post..
Portnoy, 48, posted a screenshot of Budden, 41, reporting from BYU’s home stadium. The graphic said that the Cougars had a 99.9 percent chance of making the Playoff if they defeated Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game. (BYU lost to the Red Raiders, 34-7, on Saturday and were left out of the field.)
“How happy is ESPN to openly report this crime?” Portnoy wrote. “Look at the glee on her face!”
As Budden wrote, she was not discussing BYU’s playoff odds at the time; she was actually detailing the Cougars’ practice schedule.
“They have struggled with slow starts all year, but primarily also on early kickoffs, so they have rearranged their practices all this week,” she reported. “They’ve called it ‘stretch and go,’ the idea is you get off to a hot start and practice, hopefully they can simulate on Saturday.”
BYU’s exclusion from the field was met with controversy. The Cougars dropped from 11 to 12 in the final CFP rankings — a result of their loss to Texas Tech. But Alabama, who lost a blowout to Georgia in the SEC championship game, stayed pat at No. 9 and made the field.
College Football Playoff committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained that BYU’s loss was the reason the Cougars dropped.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was not impressed with Patrick Mahomes’ performance at Super Bowl LIX. “Emergency press conference, still third quarter, but the Chiefs have embarrassed themselves on a national scale,” Portnoy, 47, shared via TikTok on Sunday, February 9. “Absolutely demolished by the Eagles. Patrick Mahomes looks like a JV quarterback.” The podcast […]
“We felt like the way BYU performed in their championship game, a second loss to Texas Tech in a similar fashion, was worthy of Miami moving ahead of them in the rankings,” he said, per CBS Sports.
BYU slammed the committee for the snub in a multi-post rant via X, comparing the team’s metrics to others that made the field.
“Congrats to all the teams who made the @CFBPlayoff,” the school wrote. “Many talented, deserved programs. Worth asking the question… Was the core mission & purpose of the committee to ensure the BEST teams are included upheld?”
BYU added a screenshot of the CFP’s mission statement, which is to “select the best teams, rank the teams for inclusion in the playoff and then assign the teams to the playoff bracket and their game sites.”
The account also shared posts from analysts and former players who disagreed with the decision.
“The CFP selection process is a joke,” former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III wrote. “Punish BYU for losing the conference championship game, but don’t punish Alabama and you leave out Notre Dame. The bias has never been more clear.”
Former linebacker Will Compton added, “It’s absolutely INSANE hearing the committee break down BYU’s performance in their Championship game —and then go in FULL PROTECTION mode for Alabama and the performance in their Championship game. Just say out loud ‘we care more about the SEC than the Big 12.’ That wouldn’t sound fair but it’s 100% the reality.”
