There is no glee in Kris Budden’s response.
The ESPN sideline reporter pushed back at Dave Portnoy on Saturday after the sports personality accused her of showing “glee” while on camera with a graphic of BYU’s College Football Playoff chances on screen before the Big 12 Championship.
“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 in response.
Portnoy initially posted a screen shot of Budden on “College GameDay” with the graphic showing BYU’s playoff odds, which stood as 99.9% with a win over Texas Tech and 0.8% with a loss.
With the screenshot, he wrote on X, “How happy is ESPN to openly report this crime? Look at the glee on her face!”
However, in the clip, Budden was not speaking of playoff odds when the graphic was displayed. Rather, she was reporting on the Cougars’ practice adjustments for early kickoffs.
“They have struggled with slow starts all year, but primarily also on early kickoffs, so they have rearranged their practices all this week,” she said. “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 only added that BYU was treating the game as a playoff matchup because “on Saturday for BYU, it’s win or go home.”
Portnoy, who has been invested in the Cougars since his October visit to Utah, where he was a part of “Big Noon Kickoff,” accused her of celebrating what he called a “crime” against the school as ESPN broadcasts the playoff. He was seemingly on edge Saturday as BYU’s playoff odds were in the balance.
BYU went on to lose to Texas Tech in a blowout 34-7 loss and was one of the top snubs from the CFP. The Cougars (11-2) went into Saturday ranked No. 11 nationally, but dropped to No. 12 following the loss.
Miami eventually took BYU’s spot in the playoff after jumping to No. 10 following Duke’s upset of No. 17 Virginia, 27-20, in the ACC Championship.
BYU torched the committee on social media, posting on X, “Congrats to all the teams who made the @CFBPlayoff. Many talented, deserved programs. Worth asking the question… Was the core mission & purpose of the committee to ensure the BEST teams are included upheld?”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
