Ohio State AD Ross Bjork responds to reported Dave Portnoy ban at The Horseshoe

On Monday, reports came out that Dave Portnoy, the owner of Barstool Sports, a notable fan and graduate of Michigan, and now a part of ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ for FOX Sports, would be banned from The ‘Shoe for the season opener this weekend for No. 1 Texas vs. No. 3 Ohio State. However, per Ross Dellenger at Yahoo Sports, AD Ross Bjork says that’s not the case.

Bjork clarified the matter with Dellenger since the reported ban went viral last night on social media. He said, since Portnoy’s role with ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ apparently won’t be on the main desk, that people with those roles don’t usually come in to be on the field when FOX airs their broadcasts from Columbus, making this a network decision rather than one by the Buckeyes.

“Ohio State did not issue a ban on Dave Portnoy, AD Ross Bjork tells @YahooSports,” Dellenger tweeted on Tuesday morning. “Bjork confirms that FOX decided Portnoy would not be on the main desk of Big Noon Kickoff and those not on the desk do not normally appear on the field. These are Fox decisions, he emphasized.”

Again, this came out last night in reporting by Ryan Glasspiegel at Front Office Sports, writing the Buckeyes were “barring” Barstool from campus and Portnoy from being inside Ohio Stadium after making his debut appearance on the show that morning. That obviously led to a lot of reaction, especially as part of the rivalry with reactions by Portnoy as well as Connor Stalions online. Portnoy has also since responded to the above reporting from Dellenger regarding Bjork’s explanation.

“I love this f***ing rivalry*” Portnoy tweeted on Monday.

“*One team has to win once in a while for it to be considered a rivalry.”

A lot of the opinions coming out of this were that this was a bad look for the Buckeyes. That said, Bjork revealed something here that might be the case for all of Portnoy’s appearances with that show this fall.

Uncommon Pressure: National title still hasn’t relieved tension on Ryan Day in 2025

Ryan Day took a ton off himself when Ohio State won the College Football Playoff. Still, as we all know at this point, there remains one thing left to do for the Buckeyes’ head coach.

On ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday, Josh Pate noted the ‘unique pressure’ being felt in Columbus. He knows that, even after winning a national title in January, so much is still on Ohio State for what they haven’t done in the final week of their regular seasons the past four years in The Game, having not secured a win over Michigan since back in 2019, to the point that it almost, in a way, seemingly devalues what was a championship season last year for the Buckeyes.

“Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘Wow, that head coach, man. He just won the national championship but there’s a lot of pressure on him this year’? No one ever says that, but yet it’s kind of the case with Ryan Day,” said Pate.

“It’s not the case that he needs to win another national title. No, there’s this whole other season that’s baked into Ohio State’s world that most of you don’t worry about. Even though you guys play rivalry games, no one has he dynamic in their life right now that Ryan Day and Ohio State do as it relates to Michigan, even coming off a national championship last year. There’s a, ‘yeah, but’. There’s not an asterisk next to the validity of the title. There’s not that. There’s an asterisk next to it in the sense that everyone congratulates you and then says, ‘Got to beat Michigan, though’ – and they’re not smiling when you chuckle at them. They’re just dead serious. They should be – ‘You got to beat Michigan, though.’”

Coming into this year’s game, Day still should feel some pressure, despite now having a national title on his resumé. Little else may matter this fall for them if Ohio State doesn’t end this losing streak. That’s with his record currently standing at 2-4 against Michigan and with the Wolverines’ program only getting better as this year’s game also goes back to Ann Arbor.

“We’re going on half a decade. This is entering a fifth year now. You can’t lose to them,” said Pate. “They’ve got Bryce Underwood up there. They’ve got folks willing to spend. The NCAA cloud is in the rearview mirror now, so all the message board fodder has to rid itself of that and refocus on what we should be focused on, which is the game on the field – The Game on the field. It’s a long way away. It’s several months away, but everything builds to that, you know.

“Ohio State, correct me if I’m wrong – I think they’ve been favored in like, every one of these games the past four years and they’re 0-4. So, it won’t matter. Ohio State can beat Texas by 20 this Saturday. They can go into Washington and win and they can go to Illinois and win, beat Penn State. And it doesn’t matter if the futures market has Ohio State -20, Ohio State -22. That’s what they had last year. They got beat! So it will not matter until the dust settles, four full quarters have been played at least and there’s a bigger number on that scoreboard for the scarlet & grey than there is for the maize & blue. That is a very weird kind of pressure that only exists in college football.”