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What Dave Portnoy Thinks Ohio State Really Should Have Said About Alleged Ban

Andy Nesbitt

Dave Portnoy and Ohio State have been trading shots before Saturday's big game vs. Texas.
Dave Portnoy and Ohio State have been trading shots before Saturday's big game vs. Texas. / Eric Rueb/Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Saturday's massive college football showdown between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State has all the makings of being an instant classic. The hype leading up to it, however, has been mostly about Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and if he has been banned from appearing on the field at Ohio Stadium before the game on Fox Sports' Big Noon Kickoff show.

Earlier this week former Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter said that he learned from a close source that Portnoy, a Michigan graduate and very vocal fan of the Wolverines, had been banned from the stadium by Ohio State officials.

Ohio State athletic director, Ross Bjork, quickly denied that, saying the school had nothing to do with it and that Fox Sports had said Portnoy wouldn't be on the desk for the last part of the pregame show that will take place on the field before kickoff.

On Wednesday, Portnoy opened up more about the situation, saying it was great for college football and then he added what he thought Ohio State really should have said to him.

“It’s awesome,” Portnoy said on Barstool's "Pick 'Em" podcast. “This is college football pettiness. What they should have said is f--- this guy, there’s no f------way we’re letting this f------ troll from Michigan into our stadium, in our house, instead of doing this back and forth thing. But this is college football.”

Here are his full comments on the situation:

This all comes after Barstool and Fox Sports agreed to a deal last month that includes having Portnoy on their Big Noon Kickoff show each week, as well as Barstool Sports having a daily morning show on the sports network.

Portnoy added that Barstool's college football pregame show was supposed to be shot live outside of Ohio Stadium before Saturday's game but that has since been canceled.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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