Dave Portnoy is never one to miss a chance to twist the knife, and Mississippi State is the latest team on the receiving end.
Fresh off Michigan’s wild escape against Western Michigan, the Barstool Sports founder had plenty of confidence to spend on Brandon Walker’s Bulldogs before their trip to Minnesota later today. Portnoy didn’t exactly dress it up as a routine prediction, either.
“This is a must-win and if this team doesn’t it’ll be one of the great chokes early,” Portnoy said of the Bulldogs’ matchup with Minnesota later today. “If they don’t win cancel the season.”
He doubled down on the same point in even blunter terms: “This is a must-win and if this team doesn’t it’ll be one of the great chokes early… if they don’t win cancel the season and the school.”
That kind of line is pure Portnoy - loud, exaggerated, and designed to get under somebody’s skin. Mississippi State already handled Louisiana-Monroe by 49 points in its opener, so a road game against a Big Ten opponent gives the Bulldogs an early test. But there’s no real reason to treat this one like a season-defining referendum.
Still, that didn’t stop Portnoy from putting the pressure on, and it certainly leaves Walker with a little extra noise attached to the game. Whether any of it matters once the ball is kicked is another question.
Most people would say it doesn’t. But college football has always had room for the trash talk, the overreaction, and the ridiculous stakes.
College football is the best.
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Now comes a different kind of challenge. Minnesotas Drake Lindsey enters the matchup with the edge of a second-year starter and a much larger sample of game experience, having completed 79% of his passes for 264 yards and a touchdown against Eastern Illinois. For Taylor, this is the sort of test that can tell the Bulldogs plenty about where his rising talent stands when the game speeds up and the other quarterback has already spent more time living in that space. [Read more 🡒]