By this point, plenty has already been written and discussed about the addition of Dave Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff and what it might mean for Fox’s ESPN counterpart, College GameDay.

While such conversations have typically focused on ratings and the pop culture zeitgeist, Meadowlark Media’s Mike Ryan Ruiz has introduced a new measuring stick to the rivalry: the two pregame shows’ respective atmospheres.

“I think part of what hurts Big Noon is not just that they’re married to the noon timeslot, is if they’re ever in the same place as College GameDay, the crowd usually goes to College GameDay and it seems like a lesser experience,” Ruiz said on Monday’s episode of Th Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “You want to see energy from the crowd. Barstool’s going to bring people to those places.”

What will Dave Portnoy bring to Big Noon Kickoff? pic.twitter.com/njkzPaT9DJ

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) July 21, 2025

It won’t be long before Ruiz’s theory is put to the test.

After all, both shows have already committed to being in Columbus, Ohio, for Week 1 of the 2025 college football season, with defending national champion Ohio State set to host Arch Manning and Texas in what promises to be one of the biggest games of the year. College GameDay will admittedly have a built-in advantage with its episode marking the last of Lee Corso’s career. But that will only add to the intrigue of what type of crowd Big Noon Kickoff is able to attract for Portnoy’s debut.

Moving forward, there may not be much overlap, as College GameDay primarily travels to the biggest game on the college football schedule each week, while Big Noon Kickoff typically favors Fox’s own broadcasts in the 12 p.m. ET window. Still, that should leave at least multiple occasions in which ESPN and Fox share a location on Saturday morning, especially considering that Ohio State and Penn State each enter the 2025 campaign as national title contenders.

Factor in that Fox reportedly hired Dave Portnoy in part to combat ESPN’s own on-air SEC fandom with some Big Ten bias, and it isn’t difficult to see this rivalry already taking shape. And the weeks in which they find themselves in the same location should only add to the pageantry, as Fox now finds itself with a more attractive in-person product than it previously possessed.