Last month, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy came to Provo for Fox “Big Noon Kickoff” and got his first taste of BYU.
Now, Portnoy has become a crusader of sorts for the Cougars, using his various platforms to lobby on their behalf over the past few weeks.
As “Big Noon” heads to Cincinnati this week for BYU’s massive matchup with the Bearcats, Portnoy took some time on FS1’s “Wake Up Barstool” show Monday to address any and all critics of the Cougars.
“They’ve lost one game, and they lost it to a potential national championship team on the road, OK?” Portnoy said, referring to BYU’s lone setback against Texas Tech. “Everybody is like, ‘Here’s the end of BYU, TCU is gonna come in and beat BYU!’ And you know what BYU did? They destroyed this team, they beat them 44-13. They’re 9-1, they’re a top-10 team.”
One of Portnoy’s cohosts, Liam Blutman, agreed with the assessment and offered praise for Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake.
“They go out there and they once again assert physical dominance,” Blutman said of BYU’s win over TCU. “Kalani Sitake once again proves why he’s one of the most underrated coaches in the country, he’s definitely a top-10 coach in the sport, and he should be considered more for some of these top (head coach openings).
“But he should never leave, he should never leave his castle. He’s the king of Provo.”
BYU came in at No. 12 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings and will most likely move up one spot to No. 11 in Tuesday’s updated rankings.
There has been much debate regarding whether the Cougars’ résumé would merit an at-large Playoff bid should they win out, reach the Big 12 title game and lose there to Texas Tech again.
Notre Dame (8-2) and a pair of two-loss SEC teams in Alabama and Oklahoma currently rank ahead of the one-loss Cougars, creating a bit of a stir within BYU and Big 12 circles.
Of course, winning in Arlington would solve everything for Sitake’s squad by resulting in an automatic bid.
In 2024, SMU finished 11-2 with a conference championship game loss and got the final playoff spot, and this year’s BYU team has a better strength of record than those Mustangs did.
But amid all the arguments for and against BYU, Portnoy remains firm in his belief for BYU and in the Big 12 sending two teams to the CFP.
“They deserve two (teams). Texas Tech and BYU are Playoff teams,” Portnoy said. “… Every week people are picking against BYU … Put some respect on BYU’s name! Put some respect on Cosmo, he’s a great performer. This team deserves to be in the Playoff, end of story.”
