ESPN sideline reporter Kris Budden pushed back at Dave Portnoy after the Barstool Sports founder accused her of showing “glee” when a graphic about BYU’s College Football Playoff chances appeared on screen ahead of Saturday’s Big 12 Championship.
Portnoy posted a screenshot on X from ESPN’s College GameDay showing Budden with a graphic displaying BYU’s CFP odds: 99.9% with a win over Texas Tech, 0.8% with a loss.
“How happy is ESPN to openly report this crime?” Portnoy wrote. “Look at the glee on her face!”
How happy is ESPN to openly report this crime? Look at the glee on her face! pic.twitter.com/hUJDoeIxDz
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 6, 2025
What Budden was actually saying while that graphic was on screen had nothing to do with playoff percentages. She was in the BYU endzone talking about practice adjustments.
“They have struggled with slow starts all year, but primarily also on early kickoffs, so they have rearranged their practices all this week,” Budden 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.”
She went on to note the coaches were treating it like a playoff game, their version of one anyway, because “in this building on Saturday for BYU, it’s win or go home.”
— The Comeback NCAA (@TheComebackNCAA) December 7, 2025
She was talking about practice adjustments for early kickoffs. Not reporting BYU’s playoff odds, and certainly not gleefully. And Budden made sure to point that herself, writing back to Portnoy that anyone 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.”
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. https://t.co/Y2F7k0j1X3
— Kris Budden (@KrisBudden) December 7, 2025
It’s pretty clear that Portnoy was probably watching on mute, saw the graphic, saw Budden’s face, and fired off a tweet accusing her of celebrating what he’s repeatedly called a “crime” against BYU. He’s been all-in on the Cougars since his October visit to Provo for Big Noon Kickoff, where he became “Provo Dave” and one of their most vocal supporters. So when their playoff hopes were hanging by a thread Saturday, he was ready to see conspiracies everywhere.
This isn’t the first time BYU or anyone associated with the Cougars has had issues with ESPN’s framing this week. The school called out a Get Up chyron asking if they could “steal” a CFP berth from Notre Dame or Miami, despite having better metrics than both teams. BYU responded by posting its own graphics showing superior numbers.
Those superior numbers were nowhere to be found Saturday at AT&T Stadium, as BYU lost to Texas Tech 34-7, which probably ended its playoff hopes anyway. So not only was Pornoy off base, but Budden was just doing her job. Unfortunately, this is what happens when ESPN broadcasts the same playoff it’s constantly debating. Everyone’s looking for bias everywhere, even in a reporter’s face while she talks about practice schedules.
