There were a lot of questions for Fox Sports and Barstool what their relationship would look like on Saturday mornings following all the drama around Dave Portnoy and company in Columbus.
Even before Portnoy stepped foot on the Big Noon Kickoff set, controversy was already running wild. There was the drama about his ban from Ohio State from stepping foot in Ohio Stadium. And there was an additional subplot of the Barstool College Football Show also not being welcome on the Ohio State University campus.
Ultimately, Portnoy’s debut on Big Noon Kickoff went off without incident, aside from the expected trolling around the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
And as BNK emanated from Ames, Iowa for the Cy-Hawk rivalry game between Iowa State and Iowa, we got an idea of what the program might look like away from Columbus with greater integration between Fox and Barstool.
The Barstool College Football Show received an entire segment on Big Noon Kickoff in the first hour. Host Kayce Smith was joined by Portnoy, Dan “Big Cat” Katz, and Brandon Walker. Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram represented the Fox crew.
And as for the segment itself, it was actually pretty good! There was a good rapport between the Big Noon regulars and the Barstool cast as Portnoy and Meyer debated Michigan QB Bryce Underwood as a potentially great freshman and Walker teased Ingram about the current state of the Alabama program.
“I think Bryce Underwood may be the single best freshman player ever in college football.” @stoolpresidente is all in on the @UMichFootball QB 〽️ pic.twitter.com/CGhARie06K
— Big Noon Kickoff (@BNKonFOX) September 6, 2025
When Roll Tide Willie doesn’t give a piss about the Tide anymore, you know Alabama is in a bad spot @BNKonFOX pic.twitter.com/wspLiXgSU4
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 6, 2025
The Barstool cast presents something new for Big Noon and something that could further distinguish it as something alternative to College GameDay. Big Cat also returned later in the show for a picks segment with Dave Portnoy and Chris Fallica.
There’s only so much mileage Big Noon Kickoff is going to get from the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry with Dave Portnoy. The segments this week with Portnoy talking about the Buckeyes and Wolverines fell flat in front of the Iowa State crowd. But this wider integration shows that there are some good possibilities for the Barstool-Fox collaboration beyond who is banned from where.
Fox and Barstool’s partnership extends to Wake Up Barstool as part of the daily weekday lineup on FS1. And it also looks like we will see much more of the greater Barstool universe on Big Noon Kickoff moving forward as well… at least as long as it’s not at Ohio State.
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